FCC boss Ajit Pai is being investigated by his own agency over potential corruption allegations.
The already-unpopular agency boss has been on a tear in recent months gutting decades old media-consolidation rules designed to protect consumers and the nation's media markets from any one broadcaster becoming too powerful.
Pai's efforts arrived, not coincidentally, at the same time Sinclair Broadcasting Group is attempting to acquire Tribune Media as part of a $3.9 billion dollar megamerger. It's a deal a bipartisan chorus of critics say would demolish media diversity, resulting in Sinclair owning more than 230 local stations across 72 percent of the United States.
Given criticism of Sinclair for its often distorted and inaccurate news reporting, consumer advocates say the deal would have a profoundly negative impact on the quality and diversity of media discourse, as well as already dwindling competition in the space.
Without Pai's assistance on this front, the Sinclair merger would have been impossible.
Now the New York Times indicates that the FCC's Inspector General has launched an investigation into whether Pai acted inappropriately as he rushed to dismantle media consolidation rules.
Also at CNN, Gizmodo and The Verge.
Related Stories
Tribune announced its withdrawal from the $3.9 billion transaction in a[n] emailed statement Thursday. Tribune said it has filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court against Sinclair seeking compensation for losses incurred as a result of "Sinclair's material breaches" of the merger agreement.
[...] The FCC order asked whether Sinclair was in fact the hidden buyer in a proposal to sell Chicago's WGN-TV to a Maryland automobile executive with no prior broadcast experience, and ties to Sinclair management. The agency also questioned links between the Maryland-based broadcaster and a buyer proposed for stations in Dallas and Houston.
Tribune Media released details of its lawsuit against Sinclair Broadcast Group. saying it is seeking $1 billion from the local TV station owner due to its "belligerent and unnecessarily protracted negotiations" with regulators, which it says doomed the $3.9 billion deal.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by anubi on Saturday February 17 2018, @08:36AM (1 child)
I sure hope someone is in control here.
So far, this whole mess makes me think of a plane running on autopilot, with a monkey at the controls, and just a matter of time before the great surprise that "no one saw coming".
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Saturday February 17 2018, @09:24AM
Well, not all is lost, given that an infinite amount of monkeys at the controls should be able to come up with a flying plane. And there are, apparently, a near infinite amount of monkeys at the helm already. All it now takes is infinite time and all will be well.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 17 2018, @08:48AM (31 children)
I wasn't expecting this, and it's a nice surprise. This kind of sneaky, cowardly, backstabbing, self-serving shitweasel deserves to lose everything he sold his soul for. I really hope he ends up in prison.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday February 17 2018, @09:04AM (16 children)
Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused -- life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:20AM (3 children)
It's a crying shame when folks don't understand satire, ain't it?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Thexalon on Saturday February 17 2018, @01:53PM
Poe's Law is very much in force.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by DeVilla on Sunday February 18 2018, @06:20PM (1 child)
I didn't notice who said it until I saw your post. I don't normally look at the names first. He catches me off guard every time.
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 19 2018, @02:53AM
Yeah, he snuck up on a lot of folks back in 2016 too.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by stretch611 on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:54AM (2 children)
I'm sure this witch hunt on Pai is just as "baseless" as the witch hunt on you.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 17 2018, @06:50PM (1 child)
I see what you did there.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 17 2018, @07:54PM
One would hope so, it is definitely not winning any awards for subtlety.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday February 17 2018, @01:39PM
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-a-playboy-model-and-a-system-for-concealing-infidelity-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal [newyorker.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 17 2018, @03:09PM (6 children)
You assigned a corporate whore to run the FCC, Donny boy. Which makes you just another whore. Which of those whores are you worrying about?
(Score: 2, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday February 17 2018, @04:36PM (3 children)
You as a sailor, I guess a retired sailor, you never hired a few ladies so you could have a fun night or afternoon VERY QUICKLY with NO FUSS? We've all done it, are we babies? We're not babies. But a sailor especially........you're telling me you never hired ladies? Pull the other one! Maybe you're unhappy about what they did for you? Why are you unhappy with Ajit? Ask yourself, is your Internet better or worse than it was 4 months ago? Radio, better or worse? TV (very important), better or worse? Phone, better or worse?
Let me tell you, my Federal Communications Commission is very BIPARTISAN, I put 3 Republicans and 2 Dems on it. And Ajit came to me very highly recommended. Andrew Jay Schwartzman, professor at Georgetown, he hates, hates, hates Ajit. But he said Ajit is "extremely smart and knowledgeable." He hates him because he's smart. Ajit did some tremendous work at Verizon, as you know. A company with 150 million VERY HAPPY customers. Bigger, this is amazing, than AT&T -- at least in the cellular. Very big company. They hired him, they paid him and they're happy they did it. He's a good-looking guy. And he's very funny, have you seen his YouTube? (People are watching YouTube again, it's amazing.) He's as funny as Aziz Ansari. I'd love for them to do a show together. The Ajit & Aziz Show. That one would be fantastic.
But the biggest thing, I wanted to undo Obama's attack on the Internet. That was another top-down power grab. I wanted to turn that one around VERY QUICKLY with NO FUSS. So I put Aziz in charge -- and our Senate, who you voted for, confirmed him. It's so true what you said, he's very corporate, which I love. He doesn't work for free. But I'm very happy with what he's doing. He's doing a tremendous job of cleaning up the mess that Obama left behind. To TAKE THE SHACKLES OFF our Internet companies. Our phone companies. Our radio. And our magnificent TV. Like Lincoln, President Lincoln, took the shackles off the slaves. The little slave children. People don't know, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. One of the first to become President.
And that, when you get down to it, is the will of the American people, it's what they elected me to do. Overwhelmingly. And that includes a lot of Obama voters, they saw they made a HORRIBLE MISTAKE when they picked him. They picked me to fix that. I don't work for free. But they're very happy with what I'm doing, my approval is THROUGH THE ROOF, it's the highest it's been in 9 months. According to all the polls. One team, one people, one American family. America First!!!!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 17 2018, @05:08PM (2 children)
You have most definitely overdone the shackles bullshit. Maybe you should watch some youtube yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smnvJGzOkhU [youtube.com]
The strange looking guy makes points that go in lockstep with some of my own points: If Abraham Lincoln cared about slaves, he would have made that emancipation proclamation before the war, or within the first few weeks of the war. The proclamation didn't come out until the war had dragged on for a couple years, and then at a low point for the Union side. The proclamation had nothing to do with the people who were enslaved, it was a military maneuver, meant to weaken the south. In effect,
"Those Rebels are kicking our asses right now! What can we do to slow them down?"
"Oh, I know, Mr. President!! You should issue an emancipation proclamation, in hopes that a lot of slave run away!"
"Well, what good will that do us, Senator Bucktooth? We'll just have a bunch of runaway slaves to take care of, then, won't we?"
"But, Mr. President, don't you see? Each and every slave that runs away will mean the South raises a few bushel less corn, or cotton, or whatever. If the farms aren't producing, they can't feed their soldiers. Soldiers who aren't fed tend to desert. In fact, soldiers with wives and children at home who are not eating are even more likely to desert!"
Spare me your accolades for Lincoln, and spare me your shackle metaphors about big business.
Ajit has one, and only one, admirable characteristic. He is a paid whore, and he has stayed bought. Loyalty can be a good thing - and I know that you value it highly. But, the FCC wasn't created for the benefit of business - it was created for the benefit of the citizens of the United States. Ajit is prostituting the FCC to the corporations. And, bottom line, THAT is why Ajit is under investigation.
It would do you well to remember that you owe your own position to the citizens, and not to corporations. Especially since you bought and paid for the presidency with your own money, not AT&T's money, or Verizon money, or Shell money, or Northrup Grumman money. Stop whoring yourself, and stop pimping whores like Ajit Pai.
(Yeah, I know, I'm not talking to the real Donny boy - I sure wish I was!)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:33PM
I'm an actor, I'm one of the best actors. And I only play one role: Donald J. Trump, New York's most successful businessman. People watch Home Alone 2, they watch The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice (before @Schwarzenegger [twitter.com] ruined it), they watch my Playboy videos. And they don't know what's acting. And what's real.
Let me tell you, June 2015, I ordered some T-shirts. I called the casting agency, I hired a bunch of extras. In the industry we call them backgrounders. I told the stunt people they can stay home, we're not doing any stunts today. June 16, today we're doing the real deal. And I came down that escalator MYSELF. That was really the real me. Not a stunt guy. Not an actor. A politician. A very real politician. As real as Big Brother. As real as The Biggest Loser. And I made a promise to you, the American people. I said, in this journey, I will never lie to you. I will never tell you something I do not believe. I will never put anyone's interests ahead of yours. And, I will never, ever stop fighting for you.
I said I have no special interest controlling me, and I have no special interest. I’m spending millions and millions of dollars on my own campaign, I’m funding my campaign. Robert Mercer, as you know, was a big help. With the funding. But I also funded myself. I call it SELF FUNDING.
President Lincoln, I didn't say he personally took the shackles off the slaves. Obviously I was being sarcastic, but not that sarcastic, to be honest with you. Because he made a Proclamation, as everybody knows. For exactly the reasons you said, you said some smart things there. Nobody ever asks, why was there the Emancipation Proclamation? You asked, and you had an answer. Good job! As you know, Lincoln wasn't against slavery, he didn't want to repeal slavery. And he wasn't for slavery, he didn't want the new states to have slavery. He saw many sides. Many sides. Which is how he got elected. I see many sides too. Our terrific white nationalists. Our alt-left, so many Bernie Bros voted for me. And our wonderful African Americans, I've proclaimed this month -- all 28 days -- National African American History Month. Very big, and beautiful, Proclamation. 45.wh.gov/c9Gvt9 [t.co]
You go to Cell Phone Boutique, maybe you just see one guy. But it's like a TV show. It's like a movie. You see the actors. But if you read the credits, so many people worked behind the scenes. The LITTLE PEOPLE. You don't see them. But without them, no movie. No TV show. The cell phone is like that, so many people work at Verizon. At AT&T. At our other beautiful cell phone companies, I think maybe we have others. It's too much work for one guy. Our government could do it. I've talked to my Generals, our government can take over the phones when we need to. They have that in Cuba. In North Korea. And, I assume, in Venezuela. But I think our great companies are doing a good job. Same thing for our TV -- just look at the credits like I was saying -- our radio, our Internet. Very big job for one guy. Our government could do it, we're not doing that yet. We have companies. It's called BUSINESS, it's called CAPITALISM. So let's make that work. I'm a businessman, the most successful businessman in New York. I know how to make our economy work, I'm the only guy who really knows that. I help our companies, Ajit helps our companies, it's better for all of us. It helps us all. Maybe it's good for the Trump Organization, I don't know. I don't handle any of that any more, my kids are taking care of it. I don't know what they're doing, I call it a blind trust. My hands don't touch that at all. I put the American people first. Always, always!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:43PM
A reasonable point, as many have more succinctly pointed out:
The real problem (for the people of the US, at least) is that those who bought an honest politician such as Ajit Pai have contrary interests to the vast majority of the population.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 17 2018, @06:51PM (1 child)
Dude, pimps assign whores not other whores.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 17 2018, @07:14PM
Some of the best whore houses were run by whores. Respectable customers might spend the night with the madam.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-fannieporter.html [legendsofamerica.com]
I wonder if she really died, or if she might be a Soylentil?
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday February 17 2018, @10:33PM
I'm sorry to interrupt you, Mr. President, but he's one of those brown people. "Ajit Pai" isn't a Swedish name, as you had mentioned earlier, so this may be a false alarm.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by anubi on Saturday February 17 2018, @09:04AM
And we also dearly need to undo the damage he's done before it gets even worse.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by KiloByte on Saturday February 17 2018, @10:45AM (5 children)
Ha ha. Let's see, are Bush and Obama in prison? Most of their crimes can be lawyered around, FISA is pretty clear-cut. Or, if you consider presidents immune — Hillary — despite not a slightest doubt about her being guilty, and her opponent, who kept promising to jail her, having won the presidency — she is neither in jail nor heading there.
This kind of animals is way too equal to even think about imprisoning them. The only crime they could do is hurting anyone of their tier, in which case retribution is swift.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:28AM (3 children)
If you want to know why Hillary's not in jail, consider all the classified and otherwise harmful secret information she's collected over the past two or three decades. Keeping her squirreled away where she could not spill it in the most devastating way possible wouldn't fly, so there's no real choice but to let her be. And that's assuming her character to be much more selfless than most people believe it is.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Saturday February 17 2018, @09:55PM (2 children)
Hillary's head is not full of classified secrets. She has people for that. Her head is full of a ledger of favors and leverage, who owes her and what she has on somebody. That's the real reason why she isn't in jail.
She also still does control the DNC. She stacked its office with her cronies and they purged most of those who didn't support her in the primaries. As such, she also controls all the Democratic Congressmen, who rely on the DNC for voter registration lists, talking points, campaign help, seed money for their campaigns, etc. That control extends down through the state parties to local precincts. Incidentally, it's not just legislators she controls, but judges and district attorneys who run on the party line. It's a big network of people, and they all cover for her.
So putting her in jail would necessarily mean putting a lot of the top echelon of the Democratic Party in jail, too.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Sunday February 18 2018, @03:35PM (1 child)
So putting her in jail would necessarily mean putting a lot of the top echelon of the Democratic Party in jail, too.
As a Bernie voter, that sounds good to me.
What's keeping the Republican-controlled Congress and Executive from doing this? Is it that they'd rather have these crappy Democrats in place because they're all bedfellows?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday February 18 2018, @07:44PM
As another Bernie voter and now former Democrat, myself, I agree.
It is a good question you pose. Why don't they? They do all generally serve the same interests, just using different language and memes that appeal to different parts of the electorate. That's one explanation. Another explanation is that they're afraid that once they open that can of worms, it will rebound on them, too, sooner or later.
Of course it seems to me that the greater risk for everyone is that while they're pussy-footing around each other, refusing to hold anyone accountable, the obviousness of their lawless behavior abounds and draws nearer the inevitable conclusion which is that the citizenry decides to hang them all.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:00PM
I wish they'd ALL end up in prison, preferably in the same cell, and then end up sharing a room in Hell with only one big bed for the lot of them.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 4, Interesting) by stretch611 on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:58AM (4 children)
Yeah, Sadly, the chance of jail time for him is quite infinitesimal.
It would be nice to see some of the damage he did removed.
For a laugh, I'd really like to see that novelty coffee mug he likes to display embedded somewhere the sun doesn't shine... sideways.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 17 2018, @03:11PM (2 children)
Please - we've all been goatse'd enough. Don't paint pictures like that . . .
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 17 2018, @06:54PM
Man, don't even bring that word up. I almost just put some ecode tags around an ascii goatse before I realized I'd have to block myself as a spammer.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by krishnoid on Saturday February 17 2018, @10:35PM
#OnePaiOneMug
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 17 2018, @08:04PM
That damn cup, make me think of this. [youtube.com]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 17 2018, @07:34PM (1 child)
The idea was sound but perhaps the Obama administration should not have been making up law out of thin air?
I really hope he ends up in prison
Why? Because he undid a 'law' that was not voted on by congress and the president? Does that not concern you more?
(Score: 3, Informative) by NotSanguine on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:48PM
You're showing yourself to be incredibly ignorant of the topic upon which you're expounding.
You should read the actual law [wikipedia.org] before spouting off, as it just shows your ignorance rather than making you seem cogent and/or convincing -- except to others who are just as ignorant. Then again, if that's your target audience, my apologies for the interruption. Carry on.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:01AM
An Indian fuck is also the lawyer of the guy suing Bruce Perens.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday February 17 2018, @12:06PM
Europeans can't get all cocky, there are several supposedly democratic countries with just as bad media dominance, some even where those in power own the media companies.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 17 2018, @03:12PM
The only reason you even know the name of any FCC commissioners at all is because the foxes are guarding the henhouse.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Saturday February 17 2018, @03:48PM (4 children)
At some point, dying legacy media needs the monopoly rules removed. As an example of what I'm talking about there's a PBS craft show where this very polite and smart yet neanderthal looking dude who apparently has never shaved nor gotten a haircut since the Bush presidency interviews the last of their kind in dying pre-industrial craft industries. Strangely enough, no matter how weird I described it, the show is entertaining and VLM approved. So he interviews the last dude hand making horse spurs in the USA or likely the last dude on the planet. Or the last dude in the USA hand making felt cowboy hats using hand steam tools from the 1800s, etc. Those last dudes have 100% of their market because the market now supports one or somewhat less than one human supplier. Its a bit extreme to call "shut it down" on a monopoly in an industry that only employs one dude. Technically if you shut down the hat dude and smashed all his retro steam hat production hardware then prices would explode even higher BUT possibly two people might now work entirely by hand, not thinking thats a good thing, as more likely the higher price would annihilate the industry and nobody would hand make cowboy hats, at least not as a real business.
Obviously that PBS show is an extreme example, but there's a big difference in effect on the public of a monopoly back when legacy media wasn't legacy yet, vs now when its like LOL old people still pay attention to that stuff? Sinclair owns a station where I live that I haven't watched since Saturday afternoon Star Trek reruns in the 90s. With the death of broadcast TV it can be weird to think back on stations I watched as a kid and try to remember the last time I watched that station or network. I used to watch football in the 90s before I got tired of it, and according the wikipedia that means the last time I watched a show on NBC was when NBC lost its NFL contract in '97 for a couple years. I watched a couple minutes of American Ninja Warrior but couldn't stomach American style sports broadcasting (Japanese version far superior). Doesn't look like I'm missing much. Anyway in a dying industry, worries about monopolies are less relevant to daily life.
I'm not entirely sure Sinclair and their situation is past the point of relevance, but you gotta admit, there is a line at some point where none of that old fashioned stuff matters. Does anyone care in 2018 who is monopolizing telegram service, or home milk delivery, or ice block delivery for residential iceboxes? That stuff was VERY important a century ago, but not so much after a certain point.
Also Legacy Media is dead among the youth, so even if you insist the line hasn't been crossed in 2018, you can mathematically model when as boomers die off and because Gen Zyklon only reads /pol/ that on some mathematically calculable date the legacy media monopoly stuff won't matter. For example, as per the URL, the monopoly in newspapers mattered maybe 30 years ago, but in half a century or so, no living adults are going to remember what newspapers were. My kids don't understand newspapers at all; its yesterdays internet news with extra ads and no technology for ad blocking, printed out, and delivered tomorrow, along with a bunch of shitty left wing propaganda, and people pay for that, why? Its like trying to tell a teenager watching youtube that, sure youtube is interesting to you kids today, but back in the old days, telegrams were really exciting, and by the way, you kids get off my lawn, and the kids is like "yeah whatever, post that on your MySpace"
https://www.statista.com/statistics/548467/print-newspaper-reach-age-usa/ [statista.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 17 2018, @05:51PM
you may have missed the point of what "consolidation of power", "control of the message" and "control of message delivery" means when referenced in context of the article.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Saturday February 17 2018, @10:28PM
I could go for some home milk delivery. Does that guy have a website?
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday February 17 2018, @10:38PM (1 child)
Do you have the name? I searched for 'pbs neanderthal craft show' and came up with 'Craft in America', but I'm not sure if that's it.
(Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Monday February 19 2018, @01:07PM
I finally found it, a craftsmans legacy. The host is a nice but ridiculously hairy giant dude. The host is definitely not a professional journalist; he seems to know at least a little about what he's talking about.
Its a strange sort of interview / hands-on craft show. So they'll go all human interest talking about how important the hosts mother was to him, then spend about half the show mostly hand making some sort of art/craft thing. In all the episodes I've seen so far, the host asks if the guest is a craftsman or artist, and the guest always answers craftsman which matches the title of the show, although presumably sometimes guests answer "artist" or the question wouldn't be asked.
Normally I make fun of TV coverage that goes excessively human interest, like modern american sportsball coverage which is often 75%+ human interest stories, but this is at most 50% and of course its an interview show where its expected.
As for things to complain about, the music is somewhat repetitive after awhile.
Given that its on TV, its a surprisingly high quality show.
(Score: 1) by vali.magni on Sunday February 18 2018, @02:46AM
We all know Pai is in the pockets of the industry, I expect nothing of any significance to come out of this investigation vis-à-vis Mr. Pai himself. The best we can hope for is a repeal of his moronic proposals, and maybe stronger legislation to protect the interests of the consumer, and maybe... just maybe, have this fool tossed out of the FCC.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 18 2018, @09:12PM
He's not being investigated for "corruption". He is being investigated for improperly making changes to FCC rules.