Is Trump concerned about the expansion of Sinclair media network?
1
So a news station trashes Trump 24/7 and seems surprised it is running into merger troubles. Funny how that works.
Trump is a wannabe dictator. There is no evil that he is not capable of, as he understand nothing about the limits of his power. He was elected by people who do not understand or care about the kind of harm a man like Trump can inflict on a society. Maybe we should work on deporting those voters....as they do not seem to be educable.
1
First the beast came for CNN and I did nothing....
1
Trump is fine with media as long as he gets favorable coverage , wonder why he praises faux news (his preferred network) and rails against those that present him warts and all ? A man who wants to control and bend every arm of our government's law enforcement branches to his whims and vendettas is a dangerous man . Have we reached the stage of tyrannical rule where everyone dances to the piper ? Are there any checks and balances left or has the rot gone too deep ? Hopefully not .
4
The Grifter’s America.
What he says go.
Sounds like a dictatorship...
4
Trump is against the separation of powers. He is against Ann independent judiciary. He is against the first amendment. He is against the rule of law.
Trump is against the constitution.
6
Sounds like a repeat of the muslim ban. The administration will claim there is a legitimate, neutral legal basis. AT&T and TWX will go to court and poke holes in that legal basis (not hard) and then point to Trump's words to argue that there's an unconstitutional, anti-free press ulterior motive.
1
Democrats are being suckered here. This merger shouldn't occur because allowing companies to control both content delivery AND the content itself is an obviously terrible thing for consumers that should never, ever be allowed (yes, I'm suggesting that Comcast should be broken up).
The Trump administration is doing the right thing here, albeit for all the wrong reasons.
Democrats who are calling for this merger to happen -- as this article appears to be arguing -- are doing a disservice to all Americans.
2
"The Empire Strikes Back".
2
CNN is just a distraction. According to yesterday"s article about this merger, ATT would control so much of the visual production in this country that it will truly be scary. It would be a monopoly on movies from now til doomsday. THis is a bad deal for everyone. This is a deal that everyone when there is public comment should should disapprove. Att USED to be a MONOPOLY until the government (when it was sensible) decided that enough was enough--so we got baby-bells which over time like the silver creature in Schwarzenager movie just glided back together. Now they want to capture the whole world. THis is one of those companies that needs to be torn apart again never to to regroup.
3
Oh my... that is a conspiracy theory if ever there was one. I think your point is a stretch.
1
The DOJ requiring the sale of CNN as a condition to the Time Warner/CNN merger when Fox is attempting to sell part of their entertainment business to Disney. Just a coincidence or is Fox raising money to buy CNN? In 2014 Rupert Murdoch tried to buy Time Warner for $84 billion but Time Warner turned down his offer. Murdoch has wanted to get his hands on CNN for a long time.
13
Murdoch controls way too much news already.
6
More fodder for Mr. Mueller. Obstruction of justice plain and simple.
6
"Justice Department officials offered reporters a different version on Wednesday, saying it was AT&T that had offered to divest CNN to allay antitrust concerns, which the company strenuously denied." The Justice Department, headed by proven liar Jeff Sessions, is asking us to take their word over CNN's? I don't think so
8
Should we assume that a President Trump's goal is to have everyone think like he does, and that free and independent thought is to be discouraged? This doesn't seem like an America I was born and raised to imagine.
5
He wants America to be Great again, like it was when it was a British Colony ruled by a king.
if he wants it to be done. it will be done. he has skin too thin to be in public life, never mind a potus.
add a napoleonic complex and vindictiveness into the mix and there you go.....
3
Richard Painter, former ethics advisor for George W. Bush correctly identifies Trump's petty, spiteful intervention in the AT&T deal as an impeachable offence--to add to the long list of impeachable offenses he faces.
Support Tom Styer, vote the Republicans out of office and get on with impeaching Trump (and Pence).
12
I'm all for impeaching Trump, but I don't trust billionaires, or hedge fund managers, even those who want to impeach Trump.
1
I have never seen so sudden a shift.
Democrats are now the party of Big Business.
1
The Democratic "centrists" have long been pushing the interests of global corporations, just not as hard as Republicans, and just because Trump is attacking CNNN, doesn't mean he would have an anti trust problem with Fox buying CNN. Trump has no principles, only personal interests. He doesn't even care what the interests of the country are at all.
2
Democrats are the party of the 1st amendment. Free speech is the well from which ALL of our other freedoms flow. To kill the public's ability to speak out against Tyrants and Tyrant wannabes is to kill any semblance of a Democracy in our nation. There is a reason why Free speech is the 1st amendment to our Constitution.
1
Trump continues to remake America as a New Fredonia from a Marx Brothers movie. We are becoming a nation dedicated to the idea that one man alone should rule from his government post. Threatening government crack downs on people or companies that own media outlets which publish 'fake news' is nothing new to dictatorships.
3
"HALL FREDONIA!"
"To war! To war! We're going to go to war!"
2
What is corruption?
That's really simple, really clear..
Except in a democracy, it is disagreeing with the boss.
Saudi Arabia, China, Zimbabwe, Russia, the Trump White House.
Which is why in America we must vigilantly oppose all who define corruption that way.
President Clinton was impeached on allegations of obstruction of justice for lying in depositions about legal, extracurricular sex. How is it that President Trump's saying before trial particular suspects in particular crimes should be executed, publicly decrying potential objects of impartial regulatory actions, and threatening news organizations he doesn't like are not considered obstruction of justice?
6
*This* is why the president is unfit. He taints every issue with completely unethical behavior, thereby making it more difficult for the justice system to function properly. Whether or not the merger should be blocked has now taken a backseat to dealing with the president's prejudicial remarks. Forcing the public to argue over and decide between freedom of the press and consumer protection is repugnant.
28
And the acquisitions by Fox and Sinclair are OK! Consolidation of the right wing propaganda machine is OK! Whatever the donor class wants is OK! Terrifying!
10
While Trump has plenty of false and harsh words about CNN and the rest of the American free press he doesn't have any for Chinese authoritarianism, lack of a free press or human rights abuses. Xi told him that unlike when every other American president made his first state visit to China there will be no questions taken from the press. Instead we were treated to Trump slavishly praising Xi.
Trump is Xi's (and Putin's) little obedient poodle.
4
Executive interference in national business, the judicial branch, and the denigration of the 1st Amendment. One more step for the Trump Empire, one giant leap to a Fascist America.
3
Do NOT approve this merger. OUR anti-trust laws are outdated because a few people own/control 85% of the stock in ALL American companies. There are no "vertical" ownership companies anymore - they are all entwined.
Roger Stone threatened CNN's Jake Tapper, Don Lemon and Ana Navarro that they would be sorry when AT&T and Warner merged because they would be out of a job. He must be prosecuted for "insider trading" and this merger must not be allowed.
6
Is getting Trump "to zip it" really the only remedy? Can't AT&T turn to federal court to stop so obvious a political attack on its business. The Constitution protects the freedom of the press, and no news outlet is safe if the Justice Department can inflict financial pain to frighten administration critics.
7
Referring to CNN as a news organization is laughable. It is in the entertainment business catering to liberal nuts. It is not a member of the press. It is a fraud posing as a news organization. Who cares if it is sold off. Virtually no one with intelligence watches the dopes that appear on its programs.
Sorry, FOX is the entertainment network -CNN is an excellent source of in depth news.
9
It doesn't smell right that this merger is questioned when so many other anti-competitive deals have been allowed. At least on the surface it appears to be a distribution company buying a content provider, which has happened elsewhere. If AT&T were buying Verizon, I'd be concerned, but that's not the case. Nowadays, every move on the Republicans make is aimed at consolidating their stranglehold on power.
7
When AT&T/Time Warner goes to trial against DOJ's denial, all they need to present Trump's video of politicizing CNN. DOJ will lose its reputation and that may open the floodgate of challenging its decisions left and right.
Normally, the government has unlimited resources; but under this admin, it is so politicized by Trump and Sessions, and its budget being cut to the bone, there is a good chance its lawyers might get a rebuke from the U.S. Court, unless it tries to go all the way to SCOTUS. There though, the pro business and the liberal might overwhelm the Trump wing.
But does DOJ care? It is using the taxpayers' dollar
2
In the old days, you got your news from the local paper and you had a 1-2 hour window per day to get network news courtesy of ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS. Now we have a constant stream of entertainment ( I refuse to call it news) disguised as news over multiple platforms and I don’t think we are better off or more informed than our grandparents. Better option is to select a few sources of news that offer differing viewpoints. NYT is s good place to start but add in the Economist magazine and for more in depth reading add in Foreign affairs magazine. Of course you should also read your local news. Avoid TV at all cost - read novels, go out to movies, go to the gym, local concerts, volunteer in your neighborhood, serve a meal at a homeless shelter and actually have a conversation with people. As for the internet, who on earth thinks Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat is a good source for news? (or entertainment), these are good places to find out about your friends recent trip or your grandmothers gall bladder surgery but avoid the internet as a source for news. The internet is like eating highly processed food, you can’t really trust what’s in it. I encourage people to shut off your cable, I did and I don’t miss it ($100 month x 12 months x 30 years = $36,000 and the FV of that stream of payments at 5% interest is $83,226). It’s a lot of money for little value. I encourage you to join my efforts to ditch the constant stream of junk created by the entertainment biz.
1
Keep your eyes on the interests of the American People, Prof. Makan Delrahim, not the interests of Goldilocks.
As for our Trump, stop lying, stop whining, and resign.
7
It has often seemed that if the truth were told, it wouldn't be American. Historically, American truth has been formed by the victors or masters, or who owns the papers. From Native Americans to African slaves to civil and uncivil wars, this has been the case. However, there is no reason to doubt American systems to the point where we feel threatened by differing opinions, and systems become Orwellian and the government controls information flow as it does in let's say North Korea, China, or Russian. This is as good a time as any to have open debate and not permit any undue government influence on markets and individuals. After all, our first priorities should always remain an all inclusive democracy, and access to point and counterpoint.
2
Beyond the fact that this is all about retaliation for news stories Herr Trump disliked, the beauty part is that this'll kick off endless lawsuits.
Way to save the taxpayers money, ace.
4
A thug preident of a thug administration.
7
The Nixon parallel gave me a chill!
8
And here we are, without a Richardson or a Ruckelshaus.
Shouldn't they also oppose Sinclair's takeover of Tribune Media? Oh, wait, no these are far-right-wing Trump supporters, so it's OK.
13
I trust Donald Trump exactly the same as I trust Jeff Zucker.
1
Just the latest installment of Trump imitating his idol, Vladimir Putin. The only real question is whether the Republican Congress will defend our Constitution or their own power as these sins accumulate. The Republican Party being a weak reed upon which to lean, I fear for our country.
7
For god's sake.
Political intrusion at Justice--to attempt to muzzle a Press outlet that the President doesn't happen to like.
Political intrusion at the FBI--where the President fires an FBI Director who refuses to muzzle an investigation of him and his campaign.
Political intrusion at the CIA--where the President requires the CIA Director to include an Infowars conspiracy theory that contradicts all intelligence--but just happens to protect him from investigation.
This President is an autocrat.
He is Putin.
As he told Native Americans who questioned whether they should drill on their land, as it was restricted by regulation:
"Just do what you want. No one is going to stop you. And, by the time it's done--it's too late."
That's his governing philosophy.
He is destroying this Democratic Republic. If he stays, it will be indistinguishable from Russia or Turkey.
He must go.
16
Trump is right --the deal is way too big, squeezes customers, does nothing for competition.
Just because Trump is against it doesn't mean we should be in favor of it. Every broken clock is right twice a day.
Here, Trump is right --no matter how he got to it.
The deal should be tossed in the trash.
5
In that he is a broken clock, ignore him? He is carrying around his own china shop. (Winston Churchill borrowing).
But does it violate antitrust laws/regulations? That should be the only question. We live in a nation of laws, not opinions.
1
Whether or not Trump is right is beside the point, and this comment should not be a NYT pick.
The point is that the president has prejudged the matter. DOJ will determine, as a matter of law, whether the law permits the merger. It will issue a ruling, subject to court review. At no point, as a matter of law, will the quality or content of CNN's reporting have any bearing on the outcome.
Note well: Trump did not pretend to offer a legal opinion or economic appraisal. He didn't say it was bad for consumers or whatever. He explicitly cited CNN's coverage, precisely what the law protects from consideration.
Because Trump is a stranger to rational thought, he occasionally stumbles on correct decisions for the wrong reasons. This is an example. The merger should be denied for reasons of media concentration; large media corporations should be (re-)broken up. The body politic has an interest in an independent press. That consideration, and no other, should be paramount.
4
President Clinton was impeached on allegations of obstruction of justice for lying in depositions about legal, extracurricular sex. How is it that President Trump's saying before trial particular suspects in particular crimes should be executed, publicly decrying potential objects of impartial regulatory actions, and threatening news organizations he doesn't like are not considered obstruction of justice?
26
Why exactly is AT&T / Time-Warner merger a good thing that we should all be cheering on?
2
We should realize how close we are to totalitarianism in the Trump administration's actions. Nixon's threats were not empty and neither are Trump's. The president has already showin how he would use his office to punish his enemies.
11
I'm sure no matter who owns the cable company feeding my house, they'll all still try and jack up my rate every month for a lot of crap I neither need nor want, that's the business of any business today. Death, taxes, exorbitant corporate profits. . . . The list of deadly plagues grows longer each day.
3
In addition to the deepening of the swamp
The questions raised by the Justice Department are motivated by politics, and politics only.
There are lots of reasons to question, and even oppose, the proposed merger, but it is clear that they are of no concern to this maladministration, which will do nothing but give the green light to whatever business wants, and the public be damned. Unless, that is, one or both of the merger partners questions Mr. Trump.
We once were proud of a government of laws, not of men. No longer.
12
A banana republic. That's what the moron-in-chief and his Republican enablers are transforming us into.
20
And we're giving Banana republics a bad name.
8
It never stops, does it, when the GOP is in power: more smash and grab, more deceit and posturing. Why, even their ace in the hole, Donald Trump, blew it: so egomaniacal was Blondie that he thought he could fly over to Korea when the most important elections were being held across America, and do so with nary a worry.
Why he may very well have cost himself his job and the GOP congressional suck-ups the party's razor thin majorities.
I thank America for having the courage to reconsider their earlier votes. That took guts and faith. And now they are back and in play nationally in spades.
7
Everything Trump touches turns to rot!
12
The lying Racist-in-Chief seems to believe he has super powers again. His minions are always too afraid to tell him he doesn't or that he looks foolish waving his arms and insisting he can make things disappear. The idea that there are limits to the office he holds has never crossed his teeny weeny mind. Now don't you go and pick on him again or he will make his boo-boo face and stomp his teeny weeny feet. How can people not see this is not Big Brother, just Big Baby?
10
What is fake news really?
Anything the bully Republicans don’t agree with?
That’s not how journalism works.
18
Washington Post owned by Amazon, now AT&T-Time Warner merger? With Donny banging his drum against "Fake News" way to many "What if's" at play here! One dictatorial government loud mouth with his own agenda playing off of other's with their own;...and, the seeming threat to one of the players, CNN, gaining power through merger! Confronting that other with perhaps greater force-opposing that label which has cast a dark shadow on the truth for how long now...?! But then again. We ultimately end up asking -do we really want to see yet another merger leading this country less consumer chose. Where are the Avengers when you need them?
1
Let's feature Time Warner divesting CNN along with some Trump friendly media company acquiring the spin off, say Sinclair. It's not draining the swamp, it's stocking the swamp with invasive caimans, gators and crocs, poisonous snakes and various monsters.
51
How is the "remedy" getting Trump to "zip it"?
The presumption that this action is politically motivated is already supported by the record, including explicit threats made by Trump, and has no apparent precedent in past anti-trust rulings.
11
Another target case for the Mueller team. Trump blunders into another ditch.
16
Business interests are being opposed not because of what might be in the public interest but because they have offended a tiny, tiny little man.
16
I feel funny being on the side of the giant media corporations that make money by sewing fear in the populace and are often too big for their britches. But that is what happens in Trump's America.
5
The article speaks of "...a new level of seriousness to Mr. Trump’s virulent, anti-press speech, raising fresh concerns that it could result in real-world, governmental action. "
It was always serious.
Wiki 'demagogue' Here, I'll do it for you:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogue
Read the whole page, so you can see where we're headed.
It was always serious,
and the sooner we wake up to that fact,
the better chance we have to get our nation back.
8
I read the wiki page. Wow! Describes Trump 'to a T'.
1
Billionaires fighting with billionaire over who should control the creation and distribution of ads and information that control and manipulate millions of people . Trump is doing good to make us all think about this merger. One company to control mobile, cable, satellite and terrestrial distribution news and information they create is pretty Orwellian. Questions should be asked.
2
Yah, dear Rupert sticking his big conglomerate together.
It's too bad that Trump had to once again open his big, empty mouth. His frequent trashing of CNN (which just means he can't control it) fuzzies up the much bigger issue here.
The real issue is that consumers would get an overwhelming amount of things from one super giant. Things like cable service, dish service, Internet service, telephone service, TV channels and their content, a primary news source and a bunch more. If this behemoth pressed its weight, its fees might tend to get higher and entertainment less varied and news less independent.
This may be "vertical" integration so the corporation would theoretically not shut down any services because of duplicate holdings. But it would still create an overwhelming amount of media and services and power in one hand. Is there anything like it? Trump is likely afraid of the merger because that super power could make the entity untouchable by a self-serving administration, which haunts him.
But the President doesn't care about consolidation of power. If he did, the administration would be less friendly with Sinclair, which is ultra-conservative and spreading like an epidemic.
There's no proof anything untoward will happen. But because Trump routinely bleats his antipathy toward the free press, efforts to orphan CNN would be faced with a legal challenge and his words would be used in court.
There's also a greater chance the government will make unappetizing deals to get what it wants and forget about what we want.
36
"Things like cable service, dish service, Internet service, telephone service, TV channels and their content, a primary news source and a bunch more. If this behemoth pressed its weight, its fees might tend to get higher and entertainment less varied and news less independent."
this can't be stated enough. People just don't realize what this become.
cut and paste folks, everyone needs to understand this merger is BIGLY BAD.
Suppose the forced sale goes through. Who exactly ends up with CNN? Because it's not going to be, say Stephens Media Group or Gatehouse. Or Maybe CNN could end up Independent? It still remains CNN, it still reports truthfully, and trump is still offended that he's can't control the story. Nothing changes, except that a tyrannical authoritarian in the White House gets to be a bully.
7
Since the BLOTUS is so interested in making libel suits easier, let's be sure to include suing him for all the lies he posts on Twitter.
55
CNN calls out Trump on his lies every day. That's the only reason he wants CNN sold. Besides this country already has a "state news network." It's called Fox.
80
You have nailed it!!
1
Jeff Sessions is finally taking to heart his boss's repeated exhortations to go after his political enemies. The Donald must be pleased and happy he's out of the country. Is Crooked Hillary next?
8
Media concentration is not in the best interest of the people, but neither is that of a person, in this case, a fraud of a President, to use their office to influence the law to satisfy their own petty agenda.
22
I have this nightmare where CNN gets sold to Sinclair. Sinclair turns CNN into FOX 2.0 - a further right version of Fox (appealing to tea partiers, "alt-right", and all those that consider current far right Republican officials to be RINO's). Within 5 years Fox is considered the middle-of-the-road network and the US moves further into full blown fascism.
26
I have thought about this as well but the road to fascism won't be easy. Even if CNN gets sold to Sinclair, which is a remote possibility because there will be lawsuits, others like CBS, Bezos etc may want to buy knowing what's at stake, new news channel will spring up around the country to fill in the vacuum left by CNN's fair reporting. More than 50% didn't vote for this administration and no amount of taming news networks can change the way we feel.
2
That truly IS a nightmare!!
I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment, but not necessarily the means or the reasons why this is an issue.
Huge conglomerates should not have a concentration of power over media companies, or platforms for that matter. The entire industry should be looked at and antitrust restrictions should be brought to bear.
However, targeting JUST one company because there is an appearance of bias towards this administration is wrong.
It is the ongoing road that this administration has shown towards fascism.
44
Do you include Sinclair in your concerns?
What a surprise (sarcasm).
Now, assume for a moment, that Justice and Trump can force a divestiture. What happens next?
AT&T can bow out of the deal, but that incurs stakeholder wrath, especially the arbitrage investors, who counted on the deal going down. So, there's investor angerto deal with, pressure on the board, and possibly Zucker's termination, as unlikely as that is.
Think about the alternative. There is a divestiture. likely an auction because of investor rights concerns. Who bids? Sinclair? Fox? Ricketts? Some combination of Mercer and Bannon? Pretty ugly, eh?
This needs to be stopped in its tracks.
14
Trump-Pence remain, like the entire GOP, trying to subvert the media to favour GOP. Ajit Pai (Republican), Head of FCC, is allowing merger of print & broadcast media to control more than 50%of the total market in any region. Already, under GOP, Sinclair Broadcasting (a far right company) owns 46% of local broadcast outlets and requires their stations to read ultra conservative opinions as if they were actually factual news.
Trump-Pence and GOP are the biggest threat to the USA, well beyond Putin and any threat before because these persons are following the Putin-Erdogan and all other dictatorship approach of controlling the media to use it for propaganda purposes.
50
Since when did the 2nd Amendment become more important than the 1st? The administration is clearly motivated by Trump's personal vendetta against CNN and a free press in general.
Congress: Wake up! This president is a danger to our democracy and to our national security. You don't need proof that he committed a prosecutable crime to impeach and remove him from office. That is why the Constitution is vague on the grounds for impeachment.
81
Trump belongs to the the "Get Mad and Get Even" school of human conduct. He has no shame.
9
Just like many examples already - the actions of the executive branch are likely illegal because of the very public words of the temporary president. Maybe they should just hold off on the merger until after impeachment.
11
Why does Donny Two Scoops bleat about CNN being “fake news” all the time when in fact they are a rung lower than Fox News in the amount of air time they lend free support to Con Don and his ilk. I gave up CNN permanently after last years elections. I got tired of seeing Con Don surrogates getting a free pass warbling his message of bigotry, misogyny, and racism. I don’t enjoy being in a rage all the time.
This past Tuesday, I walked in the door on election night, and my husband had CNN on and what to you know, none other than Rick Santorum was spouting more nonsense in support of the racist GOP party led by Con Don. So one year later nothing has changed at CNN. I flipped the channel fast because I refuse to allow any racist GOP enablers in my home.
12
Cecy, I worked at CNN for nearly 30 years and saw, first hand, their slide down the journalistic integrity ladder.. At first management were bullied by Faux News into believing that presenting merely 'the facts' was slanted reporting (astoundingly stupid and gutless of them); but then it became clear to me that they were just going after Faux's ratings, their audience, and had given up on holding the journalistic line of letting the facts speak for themselves. They were opting to be infotainment in a pathetic race for more angry, bloodshot eyeballs. More and more often, as you and millions of others took note, they just gave away their airtime and their credibility to right-wing disinformers.
I eventually could not take the bile that arose in my throat from working there any longer and left for a lower-paying, but more honest work outside of cable news, which no longer serves the common good.
4
Are these the initial stages of an American-styled fascist regime, where private businesses serve the ideology of the State? Are these the early tremors in the formal emergence of a plutocracy? Or is it just Immoral Trump and his oligarchs allies grabbing as much of the pie as possible? Hard to tell at this stage, but whatever it is, it doestn`t bode well for freedom, not the freedom to own guns or behave like a racist or a bigot, but the freedom of thought and ideas.
26
Answers: No, no and no.
1
The WSJ, the NYP and FOX are all owned by Murdoch, a trump friend and supporter, who has a record of interfering and biasing editorial policy. He was deemed in a British enquiry into his business affairs not fit on ethical and moral grounds to run a communications operation. FOX News is fake news. Trump's base is sadly mis-informed. Many of them are in for a severe reckoning, but by then it well might be too late.
28
The proposed merger should be put on the back burner until Trump is out via 25th Amendment, impeachment, or resignation. The more that can be delayed in DC the better because every thing Trump touches becomes toxic. Imagine Donald Trump deciding in any way the fate of a major media in our country.
7
Our fake President is going after CNN for telling the truth about him and trying to kill the merger over his own vindictiveness using his unqualified appointees to bid to his will.
124
seems like karmic justice. CNN's irresponsible airing of DJT's campaign rallies was one of the contributors to his victory.
1
Let's see, if it is negative press, it's fake news. If it is positive press, it is accurate news. Trump wants to kill a merger or force a sale because CNN has aired negative news on him. If FOX was part of Time Warner would this be happening? Can anyone in the US really believe this? This is more reminiscent of how Russia manages their news media.
1
Full disclosure, I am an anti-partisan who supports some of Trump's policies and strongly disagrees with others. I also do not share the personal animus toward Trump so evident among Democrat partisans in the media and among the general public. However, Trump's abuse and misuse of his powers have caused me to now favor his impeachment.
I believe that ALL presidents abuse their power in manner similar to the currently alleged abuse by Trump to punish CNN by opposing this merger. I do not say that to excuse Trump now. I just wish an equally intense suspicion would be had of all presidents.
This sort of situation is precisely why senior government officials should take care to avoid even the APPEARANCE of impropriety. Alas, Mr. Trump seems not to care about such niceties. Many Americans apparently approve of this "mob boss" approach to the presidency. One hopes these attitudes don't permanently damage our politics.
5
I'm against the merger simply because further consolidation of media companies has no merit and, in fact, is dangerous to our democracy. Yet Trump is making them look like the good guys.
2
When the Justice Departments starts making noise about Sinclair Broadcasting, then we know that they are behaving as honest brokers.
5
I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment, but not necessarily the means or the reasons why this is an issue.
Huge conglomerates should not have a concentration of power over media companies, or platforms for that matter. The entire industry should be looked at and antitrust restrictions should be brought to bear.
However, targeting JUST one company because there is an appearance of bias towards this administration is wrong.
It is the ongoing road that this administration has shown towards fascism.
2
There have been a number of recent articles pointing out that while Trump and reporters at CNN may appear to be enemies, they really have a symbiotic relationship. Trump can use CNN as an example of media bias while CNN's ratings have never been higher. To suggest that Trump is going out of his way to hurt CNN ignores this relationship. To do so without any concrete evidence of interference is the kind of sensationalistic journalism I'd hope NYTimes could rise above, even if it is Trump.
Murdoch, owner of the WSJ, the NYP and FOX, was deemed in a high level British government enquiry into his business affairs not fit on ethical and moral grounds to run a communications operation. With his reputation sullied there, he decided to focus on media operations in the US. Ironically his US citizenship application was processd very quickly without fanfare clandestinely expedited by none other than Newt Gingrich who gets plenty of air time on FOX news to push his GOP agenda.
4
I wish this were more widely known. I password blocked Faux News, I dropped WSJ coverage, and I am in favor of sending him back to the UK, Or further, Australia, from whence he originated.
2
This in my mind is one of the most frightening aspects of this administration. I have no doubt that this is being influenced by 45 and to that end, it reflects a very concerning potential. This man must be stopped. VOTE
4
There doesn't need to be any overt "engagement" by the White House. You don't get far in Washington if you can't read the tea leaves from afar. And Trump's tea is splattered all over Twitter and the media so not hard to read.
It would be absurd to say that Delrahim doesn't know what Trump wants. And that he isn't aware of other pressures from the President on the Justice Department.
Delrahim has to be thinking about how much he wants to feed the President's animosity toward his agency. And this is a much lower profile issue than collaboration with Russia. So why not throw Trump a bone? While of course telling us that's not the case.
There may be reasons to oppose this merger, but I suspect the one on Delrahim's mind, though not coming out of his mouth, is not to further antagonize the President and thus spare himself what others have suffered. Bullying works.
2
I don't know how many times this phenomenon must be observed before the nation TRULY understands that Trump's mouth is in and of itself destructive to our institutions. Whether one supports or abhors a particular policy, Trump's rhetoric taints every discussion from taxes to immigration to healthcare to antitrust.
4
Whatever one may think, CNN would appear to be punished in terms of its financial value by the actions of the Justice Department that intervene in its potential ownership This would have every appearance that Trump's "Fake News!" rants made it politically necessary to exclude CNN from the benefits it would receive from being within the merger. Avoiding media concentration this way is a poor argument - it is Facebook and Twitter than were used to manipulate elections, not CNN.
45
I believe that Trump is holding this up, but it will go through. He is doing what Obama did with conservatives and the IRS, when he targeted those who were against him. Trump is doing the same because of CNN's programming philosophy. I don't feel sorry for CNN or Zucker but it will eventually go through but cost them a little more money. Turn about is fair play.
That is only the false conservative narrative. President Obama had no connection to the delay in tax exemptions for political groups posing as civic organizations to cheat the tax code. The very fact that you identify them as such simply proves they are cheating the system by using the ill defined "community organization" part of the 503c provision. That part of the tax code is for the Boy Scouts or your local community theater, not political organizations.
Anyway - what held those applications up was a tripling of applications after Citizens United coupled with GOP cuts to the IRS budget. No political motivation at all. Just expecting fewer workers who were already over stretched by prior cuts to do triple the amount of work. Copyrights are facing the same thing. It used to take 6 weeks. Because of drastic cuts it now takes 8 months for a standard copyright. Great for business, right?
6
Sorry, Obama didn't target those against him. The IRS investigated 501 groups across the spectrum, just turns out the ones on the right broke the most rules.
6
Obama did not do this, nor did his IRS.
6
There are comments and undoubtedly there will be more about the dangers of oligopolies. On balance there is a far greater risk with monopolies. These would include the U.S. government and its executive branch.
4
6 corporations (GE, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS) own 90% of all media in the U.S. I'm a Democrat supportive of CNN, but any monolithization of corporate control should be opposed. We need diversity of ownership and opinion. It's unfortunate that Trump is fighting the right battle for the wrong reasons.
19
If the DOJ and FCC were serious about this, divesting of CNN/Turner is not enough to approve the deal. We need diversity of ownership and opinion. Divesting of CNN/Turner does very little to mitigate the impact of the merger on that.
It's political corruption dressed as a serious anti-trust action.
Allowing Sinclair Broadcasting's toxic stew to penetrate, as one voice, into so many markets is a huge problem and Ajit Pai thinks as long as you only have one station in the market it's OK.
Show some sort of consistency that isn't just window dressing for political corruption and perhaps we can consider it progress. Until then it's just authoritarianism run amok.
4
You're missing the economic and legal point. The merger doesn't increase the concentration. Using your list, all that happens is that Time Warner becomes AT&T. The number of companies listed does not decrease.
2
Although Tump’s motives here undermine the bona fides of the Justice Department’s position, I am sure most people would agree that media concentration is not in the public interest. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
23
Granted, except that Trump is more like a broken electronic calendar that's right once a year.
3
That is true, but forcing them to get rid of CNN does not solve the problem of a huge conglomerate controlling a two huge segments of distribution. It would be more logical to insist that they get rid of Direct TV.
1
Republicans have never had a problem with mergers or antitrust (except as violators). This is a vertical merger. So, why would this administration, who wrote the book on shady business deals, be so concerned, if not for the CNN angle. Remember, Trump is nothing if not petty and vindictive.
5