FCC Boss Being Investigated For Potential Corruption

FCC Boss Being Investigated For Potential Corruption

FCC boss Ajit Pai is being investigated by his own agency for potential corruption. Pai is already facing multiple inquiries into his rushed repeal of net neutrality and the shady events that occurred during it. Now he's facing an additional investigation into whether he gutted decades-old media consolidation rules exclusively to benefit Sinclair Broadcasting. Pai has been dismantling said rules just as Sinclair Broadcasting is trying to gain approval for its $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media.

According to the New York Times , the FCC Inspector General began an investigation last fall into whether Pai is a bit too cozy with the companies he is supposed to be holding accountable.

Late last year, "the top internal watchdog for the F.C.C. opened an investigation into whether Mr. Pai and his aides had improperly pushed for the rule changes and whether they had timed them to benefit Sinclair," the report notes.

"It was unclear the extent of the inspector general’s investigation or when it might conclude, but the inquiry puts a spotlight on Mr. Pai’s decisions and whether there had been coordination with the company," notes the report. "It may also force him to answer questions that he has so far avoided addressing in public."

The Inspector General is a nonpartisan position at the FCC.

Consumer groups have routinely argued that Sinclair's latest expansion would all but decimate diversity in local media reporting. The deal, which wouldn't have even been possible until Pai dismantled numerous protections, would give the already-controversial network control of over 200 local-TV stations nationwide, reaching more than 70 percent of the country.

Opposition to the deal is bipartisan in nature. Conservatives realize that a more powerful Sinclair would likely work to stifle smaller, independent media outlets unfairly. Liberals share those concerns, while also expressing worries that Sinclair's often distorted definition of "news" will erode national discourse further--just as the country is trying to come to grips with domestic and foreign disinformation and its impact on the electoral process.

Consumer groups quickly pounced on the news, arguing that Pai should step back from overseeing his multiple efforts to gut media consolidation rules (or from approving the Sinclair merger) until the inquiry is complete. That is something anyone familiar with Ajit Pai knows won't be happening.

"Until the inspector general’s investigation is complete, Chairman Pai and any other FCC staff subject to this inquiry should recuse themselves from all dealings related to Sinclair’s proposed takeover of Tribune Media," Free Press Senior Counsel Jessica J. González said in a statement. "If the investigation finds that Pai or any other FCC staff did indeed let their own bias and favoritism shape decisions related to the deal, they must not be permitted to vote on this matter and they should be subject to other appropriate ethics-review processes."

Pai is also facing numerous inquiries into Pai's behavior on the net neutrality front, including a GAO investigation into why the agency appeared to have made up a DDOS attack during its net neutrality repeal, and another into why the agency turned a blind eye toward identity theft and fraud during the repeal's open comment proceeding. That's in addition to numerous lawsuits from consumer groups, 23 State Attorneys General, and companies negatively impacted by Pai's extremely unpopular handout to the nation's biggest ISPs.