The Society of Professional Journalists Tuesday condemned comments against print journalism made by Sinclair Executive Chairman David Smith. “The print media is so left wing as to be meaningless dribble which accounts for why the industry is and will fade away,” Smith said in emails to New York magazine. “Just no credibility,” Smith said. “It appears that you are attempting to discredit any and all journalism except that produced by your television stations,” said SPJ national President Rebecca Baker and Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie in SPJ's letter to Smith. “Much of the content read on the air at Sinclair stations likely originated in the print media,” the letter said. “At a time when journalists are constantly being ridiculed and attacked by those in positions of power, we would expect someone in your position, at a media company as large as yours, to realize the difficult job ALL journalists have,” the letter said.

President Donald Trump intends to nominate a longtime PBS station general manager and a former Obama-administration appointee to the CPB board, for the remainder of six-year terms ending Jan. 31, 2022, the White House announced Tuesday. Rubydee Calvert, longtime GM of Wyoming PBS, has been on the boards of PBS and America’s Public Television Stations. Laura Ross is a lawyer and former chief of staff to the New York attorney general's office. She has been active in national and New York City area Democratic politics, including a past term as Democratic Senate Campaign Committee national finance chairwoman. The Senate previously confirmed her to be an alternate U.S. representative to the U.N.'s 2009-2010 General Assembly. The CPB board manages the “property, affairs and business” of CPB and has input into congressional funding requests, said the corporation's guidelines. Calvert and Ross are subject to the Senate Commerce Committee confirmation process. The committee didn't comment Wednesday.

Mutually exclusive FM translator applications from the January filing window (see 1712050048) have until June 14 to reach settlement agreements, said an FCC Media and Wireless bureaus public notice Tuesday. The window for settlement agreements opens May 24, the PN said. A list of mutually exclusive translator applications is appended to the PN.

Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment proposals for the FCC‘s broadcast incubator program were posted in docket 17-289 as comments in the incubator proceeding. The ACDDE recommended a program based on congressionally authorized tax credits, after being urged not to do so by Commissioner Mike O’Rielly (see 1803270041).

President Donald Trump again tweeted in support of Sinclair and condemned broadcast networks Tuesday. Trump tweeted pro-Sinclair sentiments Monday in response to widespread online criticism of the broadcaster requiring anchors throughout the country to read on-air the same prepared remarks about fake news (see 1804020056). “The Fake News Networks, those that knowingly have a sick and biased AGENDA, are worried about the competition and quality of Sinclair,” tweeted Trump Tuesday. “The ‘Fakers’ at CNN, NBC, ABC & CBS have done so much dishonest reporting that they should only be allowed to get awards for fiction!” Later, Trump took additional aim at CNN. “Check out the fact that you can’t get a job at ratings challenged @CNN unless you state that you are totally anti-Trump?” Trump tweeted. “Little [CNN President] Jeff Zuker [sic], whose job is in jeopardy, is not having much fun lately. They should clean up and strengthen CNN and get back to honest reporting!” The Save Local Media Coalition, formed to oppose Sinclair buying Tribune, condemned the president’s tweets and the deal. “Trump’s tweet and Sinclair's requirement that anchors repeat Trump propaganda about ‘fake news’ backs up the conclusion that Sinclair and Trump and [FCC Chairman Ajit] Pai have formed an unholy alliance,” said coalition member group Herndon-Reston Indivisible in a statement. "Promulgating a centralized command and control national editorial message disguised as an authentic, locally created and believed commentary, is inherently dishonest and disgraceful,” said Computer and Communications Industry Association President Ed Black in the statement. CCIA is also a coalition member. Sinclair and the FCC didn’t comment.

Programming for ATSC’s annual Broadcast TV Conference in Washington isn't complete, but the May 23-24 event is open for registration and does have a theme -- “Road to ATSC 3.0: Destination Next Gen TV.” A newly posted registration page bills day one as a 3.0 “implementation review” and day two as the Next Gen TV Conference. The event is ATSC’s first annual meeting since the FCC in November authorized 3.0's voluntary deployment (see 1711160060) and framers completed work on the last of 3.0's suite of standards in January (see 1801090056). "Road to ATSC 3.0" also will be the name of the exhibit sponsored by ATSC, CTA and NAB in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center during next week's NAB Show, said ATSC President Mark Richer in the April issue of the group's monthly newsletter The Standard, which was released Monday. The exhibit will highlight early 3.0 deployments, said Richer. More than 40 exhibitors will showcase 3.0 technology on the NAB show floor, he said.

The FCC Media Bureau rejected De La Hunt Broadcasting’s petition for reconsideration of eliminating the main studio rule (see 1801110033) for raising issues that weren’t brought up during the rulemaking process and for being too narrowly focused, said an order Monday in docket 17-106. De La Hunt has a construction permit that will likely expire before it can build a new facility, and wanted the FCC to issue a recon order that would eliminate the main studio rule but also allow broadcasters with construction permits for new facilities with less than six months left in the construction period to be given another six months to build. The company had the CP during the main studio elimination rulemaking but didn’t file comments asking for this change, the bureau said. “As part of the main studio proceeding, no party presented to the Commission the argument that it should provide an extension of time for existing construction permits.” De La Hunt’s request is more properly addressed through a waiver, the bureau said. A Media Alliance comment on De La Hunt’s petition claiming the order eliminating the main studio rule contained an error (see 1803150033) wasn’t itself a recon petition and didn’t address any issues in the petition, the bureau said in a footnote. “If Media Alliance intended to seek Commission reconsideration of that separate issue, it should have filed a timely petition for reconsideration, which it failed to do.”

Four more broadcast equipment and services suppliers will participate in the Phoenix “model market” initiative for deploying ATSC 3.0, said Pearl TV in a Tuesday announcement. Dielectric will supply UHF bandpass filters to Phoenix TV stations participating in the initiative, Enensys is supplying its 3.0 broadcast gateways, GatesAir the latest generation of its Maxiva TV transmitters, and Triveni Digital is providing its Broadcast Services Management Platform content distribution systems, said Pearl. Harmonic announced Tuesday it will supply the Phoenix stations with its Electra X 3.0 media processors (see 1803270006).

Petitions for Reconsideration of the FCC’s ATSC 3.0 order from NCTA and the American Television Alliance (see 1803060053) are being published in Thursday’s Federal Register. Oppositions are due April 13, replies April 27, the FR said.

Radio equipment from two Boston-area alleged pirate radio stations was seized in a federal forfeiture action Monday, said a release from DOJ Wednesday. “We are pursuing multiple legal routes to stop pirate broadcasters; the seizure action in Boston is just one of them,” said FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Rosemary Harold, in the release. The stations, which the government said were unlicensed, were identified by DOJ as “Big City” and “B87.7 FM,” both broadcast from Dorchester, Massachusetts, the release said. They had received multiple warnings from the FCC but continued to broadcast, the release said. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly praised the seizure in a statement crediting Chairman Ajit Pai’s leadership on radio piracy: “This FCC will not sit idly by while pirates flaunt our rules.”