FCC Hasn't Complied With FOIA Requests Involving Sinclair, Says Complaint
The FCC hasn’t complied with Freedom of Information Act requests involving Sinclair and its proposed buy of Tribune, said a complaint to U.S. District Court in Washington Monday. Freelance journalist Askold Krushelnycky sought records about the 2016 consent decree between…
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Sinclair and the FCC over joint retransmission consent negotiations, and nonpublic communications between Sinclair and the FCC. The Media Bureau released few records and hasn’t responded to an application for review, the complaint said. After a bureau official told him delays responding to his FOIA request were caused by there being “approximately thirty” outstanding FOIA requests regarding Sinclair, Krushelnycky filed a second request for copies of all FOIA requests that reference Sinclair/Tribune, and the documents produced by the FCC in response to those requests, the complaint said. The agency said it was extending the deadline to respond because of the volume of that request, but didn’t meet its Feb. 2 deadline and hasn’t sent any records, the complaint said. The FCC hasn’t adequately searched for the relevant documents, failed to follow its own rules and is “intentionally concealing what should be public information,” the complaint said. Krushelnycky wants the court to order the agency to make the records available and cover his court costs. The commission and Sinclair didn’t comment.