Advisory: Activists to Rally June 7 Outside Sinclair Shareholders' Meeting to Protest Proposed Merger With Tribune Media

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, opponents to the Sinclair Broadcast Group’s bid to grow its empire will gather outside the broadcast giant’s annual shareholders’ meeting to protest its proposed takeover of Tribune Media.

Free Press Action Fund, which is suing the Federal Communications Commission for rulings that have gutted longstanding media-ownership limits to pave the way for this merger, will be joined at the rally with representatives from Color Of Change, Common Cause and others to announce a nationwide series of actions urging decision-makers at the Department of Justice and FCC to reject the deal.

As originally proposed, the Tribune deal would give Sinclair control of more than 233 local-TV stations reaching 72 percent of the country’s population, far in excess of congressional and FCC limits on national and local media ownership.

People from across the political spectrum have called on the FCC to reject the deal, concerned that the merger would result in Sinclair laying off local reporters to replace their coverage with cookie-cutter journalism and forced broadcasts of politically biased commentary.

Please join us to cover the rally:

What: Protest at Sinclair Shareholders’ Meeting
Who: Hosted by Free Press Action Fund, Color Of Change, Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, CREDO, Daily Kos, Demand Progress, MPower Change, United Church of Christ Office of Communication, Inc.
When: Thurs., June 7, at 9:30 a.m.
Where: Sinclair Broadcast Group, 10706 Beaver Dam Road, Hunt Valley, Maryland
RSVP: Reporters please RSVP by email to Timothy Karr (tkarr@freepress.net)

“Whether it’s the viral video of all the local anchors robotically reading the same script or the scandalous giveaways it has gotten from the Trump FCC, the heat has turned up on Sinclair and against their takeover of dozens more TV stations,” said Free Press Action Fund President and CEO Craig Aaron, who will be speaking during the rally. “Following this rally, we’ll kick off a nationwide series of actions to help local communities reject Trump TV. We believe local news should serve communities, not reactionary politicians and their cronies.”