GOP-Friendly Local ‘News’ Broadcasters Plan More Harmful Mergers After Trump Destroys What’s Left Of Media Consolidation Limits

Failures

from the merge-ALL-the-things! dept

During Trump 1.0, his FCC took at absolute hatchet to media ownership limits. Those limits, built on the back of decades of bipartisan collaboration, prohibited local broadcasters and media from growing too large, trampling smaller (and more diversely-owned) competitors underfoot. The result of their destruction has been a rise in local news deserts, a lot of right wing propaganda outlets pretending to be “local news,” less diverse media ownership, and (if you hadn’t noticed) a painfully disinformed electorate.

It’s all about to get much, much worse under Trump 2.0.

There are a few media consolidation limits left, like rules preventing the big four (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC) from merging. There’s also the national television ownership rule, which prevents one company from reaching more than 39 percent of all US TV households (again, because the goal was ensuring a more diverse array of opinions and ownership, which is good for media markets and the public interest).

Trump FCC boss Brendan Carr is preparing to take a hatchet to all of these remaining restrictions, propped up by the false claim that the modern media environment is just so damned competitive and vibrant, such restrictions harm “free market innovation.”

Of course, here in reality, the folks who actually take advantage of the steady destruction of the regulatory state and these sorts of consolidation limits couldn’t care any less about “innovation,” journalism, healthy media markets, diverse ownership, or the public interest. They’re interested in stock bumps and tax cuts from growth-for-growth’s-sake consolidation, and spreading the reach of right-wing disinformation.

Nexstar (a very Republican friendly company that also owns The Hill), is preparing to ask the FCC for permission to acquire Tegna in a  $6.2 billion deal that is illegal under current rules (you might recall that Nexstar-owned The Hill recently fired a journalist whose reporting angered Trump).

The deal would give Nexstar ownership of 265 stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia and 132 of the country’s 210 television Designated Market Areas (or DMAs). Nexstar appears to have beaten out rival bids by Sinclair, which has also long-been criticized as Republican propaganda posing as local news. It wouldn’t be surprising if Nexstar and Sinclair are the next to merge.

Foundationally these mergers are almost always terrible for consumers, markets, and employees. The debt from the deals routinely results in a wave of layoffs, corner cutting, and a lower-quality product; which, in this case, is already pretty shoddy corporate and Republican-friendly gibberish pretending to be local (or national) news. The press coverage of itself usually can’t be bothered to mention this.

But as consumer groups are quick to note, this really is also about perpetually expanding the reach of right-wing friendly disinformation and right wing ideology:

“Of course, the companies leading the charge for more consolidation see local news only as a vehicle for serving political ads and spreading right-wing propaganda,” [Free Press CEO Craig Aaron] argued. “For them, this is going as planned.”

More mergers are likely waiting in the wings for both local and national media. As CBS just ably demonstrated, these also don’t serve the public interest. You’ll notice that the supposed populist Lina-Khan-esque MAGA interest in “antitrust reform” we all heard so much about during election season is, unsurprisingly, nowhere to be found.

The Republican and corporate mission to turn all journalism into dodgy infotainment and journalistic simulacrum hasn’t been aided much by Democrats, whose own party media policies have largely involved rubber stamping a lot of harmful consolidation, paying empty lip service to journalism, and standing around with a dumb look on their face while right wing zealots fight a very successful war on education, journalism, and informed consensus.

It’s easy to say the steady destruction of local broadcast news isn’t a problem because the Internet exists, but a lot of people still watch local broadcast news. And it’s not like the internet, increasingly dominated by Republican-friendly giant corporations mindlessly chasing engagement, is doing much better of a job when it comes to healthy, ethical journalism and an informed electorate.

Filed Under: antitrust, consolidation, diversity, journalism, maga, media, media consolidation, mergers
Companies: nexstar, tegna