https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xeqxz/trump-fcc-tries-to-claim-its-blatant-sinclair-favoritism-was-entirely-coincidental

The Trump FCC has routinely been accused of being far too cozy with the companies the regulator is supposed to be holding accountable. From the FCC’s historically-unpopular attack on net neutrality to its defense of prison telco monopoly overcharging, being a genuine consumer ally isn’t something the agency is likely to be accused of anytime soon. But the FCC has found itself under particularly-heavy fire for its efforts to dismantle decades-old media consolidation rules—simply to help aid Sinclair Broadcast Group’s planned $3.9 billion merger with Tribune. Sinclair’s proposed Tribune acquisition would give it ownership of more than 230 broadcast stations, reaching 72 percent of the American public. The company’s news reporting has been ridiculed as factually-dubious on a good day, and the deal’s impact on discourse and competition has raised alarm bells among Republicans and Democrats alike.

Republicans worry the deal could stifle smaller independent media voices. Democrats worry that Sinclair’s hard-right leaning news will simply muddy the public discourse waters further in a nation already struggling to come to terms with a rather nasty disinformation problem. Ignoring both concerns, the FCC has quickly been dismantling rules designed to protect media consumers and smaller competitors from precisely this sort of threat. From weakening a rule preventing any one broadcaster from reaching more than 39 percent of the nation, to the dismantling of a 77-year-old rule that required broadcasters keep a local studio in the towns they service (in a long-standing bid to encourage community participation), Ajit Pai’s FCC has been unapologetically single-minded in its quest to help Sinclair grow larger.