Standard/Tegna Broadcasters Object to Union Attorneys
The FCC shouldn't grant access to confidential information in the Standard/Tegna proceeding to additional attorneys representing the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild and National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians sectors, said the two companies and Cox Media Group in…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
a joint filing posted in docket 22-162 Tuesday. Standard extended until April 4 the expiration dates of its tender offers to buy Tegna shareholders’ stock, said a news release Monday. The tender offer was to expire Tuesday. The broadcasters in the Standard/Tegna deal previously accused the unions’ attorneys of mishandling confidential information (see 2301230063). “There is no reason” for attorneys Arthur Belendiuk and Kenneth Levy to be granted access to highly confidential information because the administrative law judge hearing will be invalidated by an FCC vote or canceled when the deal collapses, the broadcasters said. Not giving them access won’t hurt their case because the FCC’s ALJ hasn’t issued a scheduling order, the broadcasters said. “In the unlikely event that some circumstance emerges where Belendiuk and Levy would have a legitimate reason to review Applicants’ CI and HCI, the Commission could revisit the request at that time. At present, there is none.” The unions’ attorneys declined to comment. In a letter posted Tuesday, the Korean American Association of Greater New York, the Council of Korean Americans and other Korean-American groups objected to the FCC’s handling of the Standard/Tegna deal. “We take issue with the implication that ownership of a major media outlet such as TEGNA by an Asian American does not advance the goals of diversity,” said the letter. “We believe that the merger would promote diversity and we believe that the merger will be a buffer against antiAsian bias, xenophobia, and racism.”