FCC COMMISSIONER COPPS CRITICIZES SINCLAIR

FCC COMMISSIONER COPPS CRITICIZES SINCLAIR CORPORATE DECISION TO PREEMPT LOCAL STATIONS FOR POLITICAL BROADCAST

Commissioner Michael J. Copps reacted to reports that Sinclair Broadcast Group will preempt more than 60 local stations across the country to air an overtly political program in the days prior to the Presidential election.
Copps stated: “This is an abuse of the public trust.  And it is proof positive of media consolidation run amok when one owner can use the public airwaves to blanket the country with its political ideology -- whether liberal or conservative.  Some will undoubtedly question if this is appropriate stewardship of the public airwaves. This is the same corporation that refused to air Nightline’s reading of our war dead in Iraq.  It is the same corporation that short-shrifts local communities and local jobs by distance-casting news and weather from hundreds of miles away.  It is a sad fact that the explicit public interest protections we once had to ensure balance continue to be weakened by the Federal Communications Commission while it allows media conglomerates to get even bigger.  Sinclair, and the FCC, are taking us down a dangerous road.”  

can/will he actually DO anything about this?

Lining up your "expert witnesses" is always part of the process. Not it's no longer "a political scam" but rather "what FCC commisioner Copp called.."

That's bad in and of itself; it's basically how Clear Channel operates a lot of stations.

Thanks.

It'll cost them a lot of legal $$$ if lots of concerned citizens file complaints.

file a class action law suit on behalf of all americans that want media to be unbiased. We need a law..! LOL. We need some damn law-makers.. lets get busy