The antitrust lawsuit against the $6.1 billion dollar Nexstar Media Group merger with Tegna expanded Thursday, with the addition of five new states to the eight already seeking to block the megamerger.
Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vermont signed on to the lawsuit turning the once all-Democratic fight into a bipartisan movement. Indiana, Kansas and Pennsylvania all have Republican attorneys general.
“These aren’t Republican or Democratic issues. They are American issues,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, said in statement announcing his state had joined the case filed in federal court in Sacramento, California.
If the merger continues, it would create the largest local broadcast group and would give Nexstar 80% of the national audience. The merger could have widespread impact on the Denver television market if allowed to proceed. Nexstar Media Group wanted to combine KDVR Fox31 and KUSA 9News, two of the top stations in the market.
Kobach’s statement denounced the deal for “putting more broadcast programming in the hands of fewer people, cutting local jobs, increasing cable bills, and significantly impacting the delivery of news and other media content to Americans nationwide.”
Chief U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley ruled he was halting the merger with a preliminary injunction on April 17, while the antitrust case moves forward in court.
FCC Chairman Brandon Carr, who supports media consolidation, announced a waiver of the FCC ownership rule that restricts station groups to 39% in order for the merger to move forward.
Attorneys general in eight states, including Colorado’s Phil Weiser, filed the antitrust lawsuit on March 18, the day before the FCC waived the rule, stating the deal reduces competition, increases costs to consumers and will negatively impact the local journalism in markets where stations will be combined. The suit was eventually combined with a similar suit filed by DirecTV.
Nexstar Media Group issued a statement on X Friday morning fired back at the attorneys general, criticizing what it describes as their lack of understanding of the current forces impacting the local news business.
“The real drivers of the decline of local news: the unchecked rise of Big Tech platforms, the spread of misinformation on social media, and the economic pressures that have already led to widespread newsroom closures,” the post said.
The Nexstar statement ended with a stark warning about the future of local news: “The alternative to this deal is not more independently owned outlets – it’s the demise of your local broadcast station.”
Nexstar also repeatedly said it plans to expand local news coverage in many markets, and announced a deal reached with Ohio’s Attorney General Dave Yost.
The Republican announced earlier on Thursday an agreement his office reached with Nexstar that he said would protect the independence of local news.
“Journalistic independence is a cornerstone principle of our democracy,” Yost said. “I’m pleased that Nexstar has committed to upholding local news standards without going to court.”
The agreement outlines an agreement in which Nexstar agrees to maintain editorial decision-making at two of the three Tegna-owned stations in Ohio, WBNS-TV in Columbus and WKYC-TV in Cleveland. Absent from the agreement is Tegna-owned WTOL in Toledo with no explanation. In exchange for “commitments” made by Nexstar, the AG waives its right to join any antitrust claims against the merger.
The agreement requires Nexstar to maintain the same aggregate number of hours of local programming at the Tegna acquired stations. It also promised to “keep separate journalist teams” at each of the Tegna stations.
“Journalist teams,” it explains, includes “anchors and editors who exercise editorial judgement and/or are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of the newsroom’s output.”
That section excludes from those protections what it describes as “technical, engineering, and administrative personnel” including “photographers, engineers, production assistants, newscast production support and the like.”
One important newsroom role excluded from the wording of the agreement is “reporter” or multimedia journalists known as MMJ’s, reporters who not only report the story but also shoot the video and edit the final broadcast story.
The omission and exclusion of so many involved in the news editorial process has Tegna employees, who did not want to be named, concerned that those are positions that will be cut first if the merger stands.
The Colorado Sun reached out to a spokesperson for Yost, and has not received a response to our questions.
The Ohio agreement would only go into effect if Nexstar wins the antitrust lawsuit. It has announced plans to appeal the preliminary injunction to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
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