FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel was right to back up the chief of her Media Bureau in February in ruling that hedge fund Standard General’s proposed takeover of Tegna’s 64 local news stations across 51 U.S. markets deserves further scrutiny. The $8.6 billion deal is being funded in part by the country’s largest private-equity firm, Apollo Global Management, which already controls another vast local TV chain, Cox Media Group.
We have already seen the detrimental effects that Wall Street control of local journalism produces — news deserts for local communities created by consolidation and even increases in government costs as a result of the lack of scrutiny over local deals.
