NewsGuild to Biden: DOJ and CFIUS should Block Standard/Tegna
DOJ and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S should block the Standard/Tegna deal over foreign ownership concerns, said the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild sector in a letter to President Joe Biden Monday. It is the second letter…
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NewsGuild has written to Biden about the deal (see 2206020073). “The FCC should reject this overreach and the Treasury and State Departments should reject any deal that contains a single penny of investment from foreign adversaries,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss in the letter, which faults Apollo Global Management for seeking a foreign ownership declaratory ruling related to the transaction (see 2203110066). Such requests aren’t uncommon; the FCC granted one for Univision in January (see 2201210062) and one for iHeart Media (see 2112220052) in December. "Standard General, a hedge fund, claims that it is increasing broadcast ownership diversity by historic levels because its sole voting shareholder is Asian-American," said the letter. "However, ownership by large hedge funds with majority financing from anonymous foreign and U.S. institutional investors is not the same as ownership by a historically underrepresented person of color acquiring a broadcast license." The letter also said Standard hasn’t been transparent about the deal’s financing and called the deal “the culmination of a multi-year hostile takeover effort of a local broadcast news company.” “Will your administration stand with journalists and American families or stand with anonymous foreign investors and Wall Street funds?” the letter asks. Standard declined to comment.