Wheeler Slams 'Trump FCC' Over 'Engineering' Regulations to Benefit Sinclair
The “Trump FCC” is allowing Sinclair to turn local TV news “into a coordinated national platform for the delivery of messages” that attack opponents of the president, former Chairman Tom Wheeler blogged for the Brookings Institution Thursday. Sinclair and the…
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FCC didn’t comment. By doing away with Wheeler-era rules that prevented sidecar arrangements, the agency “rubber-stamped” the “charade” that sidecar deals comply with ownership regulations, Wheeler said. “The efforts of the Trump FCC to help Sinclair expand its national political propaganda machine have not even been subtle.” Sinclair’s initial announcement of a Tribune combination that at the time didn’t comply with the national ownership cap “was a strong indicator that Sinclair believed the Trump FCC would conveniently change the law to help them,” Wheeler said. “There is an arrogance in engineering federal regulation to benefit a specific company -- especially when the chairman of the Trump FCC has preached ‘regulatory humility.’”