
Ajit Pai faces investigation into moves that benefit Sinclair Broadcasting - Dangeranger
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/02/ajit-pai-faces-investigation-into-moves-that-benefit-sinclair-broadcasting/
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greglindahl
Extensive discussion from 9 days ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16393900](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16393900)

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slumberlust
Extensive? I see two comments.

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gkoberger
I imagine most people have a similar feeling of despair... that this is the
last we'll ever hear of this. We're flooded with a ton of articles like this –
"faces investigation", "raises questions", "could be an issue", "might be
illegal", etc.

But rarely do we see anything come from issues like this. Our politicians just
keep getting away with things until they become the new normal. There's rarely
any repercussions... and even if Ajit Pai does fall, he'll just get a cushy
job at Sinclair (or Comcast or somewhere else he helped), and some unknown
person who is a bit less hated and can better fly under the radar will replace
him.

I don't really have a point and I definitely don't have a solution. I just
hate this feeling of helplessness. Much like with Net Neutrality, we're just
being worn down until even the most passionate amongst us stop caring.

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Y_Y
One solution would be journalistic outlets that don't discard news stories
after a day or two. Imagine news stories had a "follow up after a month"
button! But it seems like "Even Though X Promised To Do Y By Now, They Still
Haven't" isn't the right kind of headline. I don't know how news websites
choose what stories to write and feature, but it seems absurd and getting
worse. BBC in particular seems to be picking content with a strategy that has
vanishingly little to do with what's of geopolitical importance or cultural
interest.

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astrodust
Imagine if you could chip in a bit of money to pay for a follow-up article.
This type of reporting isn't cheap.

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Y_Y
A kickstarter type model? Indie-journo?

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astrodust
I mean more integral to the site itself, as in a portion of your subscription
fee could go towards it somehow.

It may just encourage clickbait journalism of the worst form, encouraging
paparazzi to get even more aggressive.

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meri_dian
>"Among other decisions, Pai's FCC rolled back broadcast TV station ownership
limits, which could help Sinclair complete its pending acquisition of Tribune
Media Company. The merger would let Sinclair, which the Times describes as a
"conservative TV giant," reach 72 percent of TV-owning households in the US.

>"If the merger is approved, the conservative broadcaster would be able to air
politically biased programming to more than 70 percent of the US population,"
Free Press said today."

This is the real problem, regardless of why Pai pushed for rule changes. The
centralization of media is one of the main causes of polarization in society
and therefore one of the great challenges our society must overcome.
Sinclair's political leanings are irrelevant. If they were a "liberal" company
this would still be a very bad development.

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forapurpose
Corruption is a disease, not a wound that we can just stitch up. There are
long-term consequences to short-term increases in corruption: The 'market' (so
to speak) selects for skill in corruption, not for economically productive
skill; the talented and innovative get pushed aside by the corrupt. In
addition, those in power don't come from a background or framework of hard
work and innovation - they don't care about or understand those things; those
in power develop proteges similarly skilled in corruption and have a vested
interest in maintaining a power structure built on corruption.

Many on HN have a vested interest in success resulting from hard work and
innovation. You want to imagine that there's a free, mostly meritocratic
market and that you can earn your success. You want to believe in the American
Dream and Land of Opportunity. Those things didn't happen by accident or
providence; generations worked very hard to provide it, and the only thing
that will preserve it is us (and improve it - we should give something better
to the next generation, just like our ancestors did). There's nobody else who
is coming to save the day for you. That's the hope of democracy. The best news
is, it's worked out really, really well in the past.

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astrodust
Wake me up when there's a surprise.

