CWA, NABET, and NewsGuild File FCC Petition to Deny Sinclair-Tribune Merger

CWA, NABET-CWA, and the NewsGuild-CWA filed a petition this week with the FCC to deny the potential merger between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media Company, saying that the merger does not serve the public interest.

In the petition, CWA points out that the potential Sinclair-Tribune merger would reduce competition, harm local news coverage, and eliminate jobs, while noting that there is broad opposition to the Sinclair-Tribune merger among labor unions; civil rights, consumer, and public interest organizations; cable, satellite TV, and rural broadband providers; independent news and entertainment programmers; as well as many members of Congress, state attorneys general, and members of the general public.

The petition also points out that Sinclair has a long history of scaling back quality news and cutting jobs, and that when Sinclair buys a station, cutting local news operations is not far behind, citing examples from across the country. "The Commission should deny the Sinclair-Tribune merger," CWA concludes.

Read more here.