Twelve Democratic senators sent a letter to the Trump administration calling for an investigation into the conduct of the Sinclair Broadcasting Group as it seeks to merge with Tribune Media.
In the four-page letter dated Tuesday to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, the senators noted their "grave concerns" and documented potential violations by Sinclair "that affects its fitness to hold its existing broadcast licenses and its fitness to hold even more broadcast licenses through the proposed merger with Tribune Media."
The senators, including Sens. Maria Cantwell and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who caucuses with the Democrats, said Sinclair has "violated the public interest."
As a result, the senators are calling on Pai to "pause the pending Sinclair-Tribune merger review" and launch an investigation into "Sinclair's news activities to determine if its news programs are "tantamount to news distortion."
In addition to Cantwell and Sanders, the other 10 senators who signed the letter:
- Tom Udall
- Elizabeth Warren
- Edward Markey
- Tina Smith
- Cory Booker
- Patty Murray
- Ron Wyden
- Richard Blumenthal
- Tammy Baldwin
- Jeff Merkley
Specifically, the senators accuse Sinclair of "deliberately distorting news by staging, slanting, or falsifying information" by "forcing news anchors to read Sinclair-mandated scripts warning of the dangers of 'one-sided news stories plaguing our country.'"
The senators say Sinclair has turned "local journalists into mouthpieces for a corporate and political agenda."
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