This Sinclair-Tribune Merger Is A Rotten Deal For America

[Commentary] Sinclair’s merger with Tribune would give them stations reaching 72 percent of the country. However, the Federal Communications Commission says that a single company, like the one that would be created after a Sinclair-Tribune merger, cannot exceed a reach of 39 percent. The FCC and Chairman Pai say it isn’t true that the rule was reinstated specifically for Sinclair. “Still,” Politico noted in early August, “the FCC action removed the most serious obstacle for Sinclair… While Sinclair doesn’t spend much on traditional lobbying, it has donated generously over the years to congressional Republicans, who have shown little inclination to throw up any roadblocks to the deal…”

Money and influence, the same old story. In a word, this deal stinks, and there’s nothing fair about it.

[Michael Winship is a senior writer with BillMoyers.com and president of Writers Guild of America, East]