Two Democratic lawmakers today called for an investigation into whether Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai "has taken actions to improperly benefit Sinclair Broadcast Group."
The FCC has made several decisions that benefit Sinclair, a broadcast station owner with a right-wing tilt. Among other things, the FCC rolled back broadcast TV station ownership limits, which could help Sinclair complete an acquisition of Tribune Media Company and, in the process, reach 72 percent of TV-owning households in the US.
According to two representatives, Pai hasn't sufficiently answered questions about his relationship with Sinclair. Those congressmen are Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) and Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who said as much in a letter to FCC Inspector General David Hunt.
Pallone and Cummings wrote that they have "repeatedly asked for all correspondence between Chairman Pai, his office, and Sinclair," without much success. Now they want the FCC inspector general to investigate. They continued: Because of the number of incidents where members of this administration have used personal communications services for government business, we also inquired whether the Chairman or his staff have used personal e-mail or social media messaging applications to communicate with Sinclair.
The Chairman has repeatedly refused to answer these inquiries, raising questions about whether he is appropriately following Commission rules. FCC actions that help Sinclair, "when taken in context with reported meetings between the Trump Administration, Sinclair, and Chairman Pai's office, have raised serious concerns about whether Chairman Pai's actions comply with the FCC's mandate to be independent," the Democrats say.
The Trump campaign "struck a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group during the campaign to try and secure better media coverage," Politico reported in a December 2016 story that was mentioned in the Democrats' letter. Trump reportedly discussed potential FCC rule changes in a meeting with Sinclair's executive chairman, and Pai or his staff "have met with Sinclair representatives on numerous occasions," Pallone and Cummings wrote.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/lawmakers-demand-investigation-into-fcc-chairman-ajit-pai/
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