After Cutting Kimmel, Nexstar Asks Trump to Greenlight Illegal Merger
“This open corruption not only risks more layoffs and consolidation, but will do major damage to local news, free speech and the long-term health of our democracy.”
Washington, DC – Two months after bending to a White House demand to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! from its network, Nexstar Media Group is asking the Trump administration to approve an illegal $6.2 billion merger that would grant it control over TV stations reaching more than half the country. (Kimmel Live! was reinstated only after immense public backlash).
Nexstar submitted the request on Tuesday, seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission to acquire broadcast licenses from its rival Tegna Inc. Further clamoring for Donald Trump’s favor, Nexstar boasted in its filing to the FTC, “We are the anti-fake news.”
If approved, the new entity would control 265 television stations reaching more than 60% of the country – blowing past the federal bans on ownership above 39% and raising serious concerns about free speech and corporate control of US media.
Center for Journalism and Liberty at Open Markets Director Dr. Courtney Radsch released the following statement on the urgency of challenging this merger:
“This merger is blatantly illegal. The only reason Nexstar is trying this is because they think they can trade friendly coverage for a greenlight to tighten their control over America’s airwaves. It’s an unprecedented power grab that should raise serious concerns for anyone who cares about free speech, local news and corporate influence over our airwaves.
“America has had television ownership rules for almost as long as we’ve had television, and for good reason. We believe in democracy and freedom, and that means no one person or company should have this much control over so much of what we can say and see. This open corruption not only risks more layoffs and consolidation, but will do major damage to local news, free speech and the long-term health of our democracy.”
If the merger is approved by FCC Chair Brendan Carr – the Trump apparatchik who in September urged stations to suspend Jimmy Kimmel – it will almost certainly spark a legal battle over the administration’s violation of the national ownership cap.
In August, the Center for Journalism and Liberty at the Open Markets Institute joined with 15 leading press freedom groups, civil liberties organizations and labor unions to warn the FCC that altering the 39% cap would be an unlawful act with devastating effects on local news, media choice and journalism quality.
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The Center for Journalism and Liberty at the Open Markets Institute works to ensure that the news media of the United States and our democratic allies is fully independent and robustly funded in the 21st century’s digital economy. The Center’s work is guided by the belief that government plays a fundamental role in structuring news media markets and business models to ensure that neither the state nor any one or few private actors control the words or actions of reporters, editors and publishers.