George Soros, the left-leaning billionaire and Democratic megadonor, has been pressuring the Democratic-controlled Federal Communications Commission for months to fast-track his purchase of more than 200 radio stations in more than 40 markets, including: Glenn Beck, Mark LevinErick Erickson, Sean Hannity, and Dana Loesch.
On Wednesday, the F.C.C.
Reportedly The Federal Communications Commission adopted an order approving the acquisition, meaning that within days, Soros will gain control over communications with more than 165 million Americans with the help of unvetted foreign investors whom Democrats have excluded from the FCC's customary national security review process.
Glenn Beck, a national radio host and co-founder of Blaze Media, on Tuesday questioned Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee and FCC commissioner, about the willingness of Democratic FCC commissioners to go along with Soros' latest narrative control ploy.
“This is an unprecedented decision for the committee,” Carr said, adding that the decision would not have been acceptable if Soros had been a supporter of another party. The decision came within the context of a broader “weaponization of government power against free speech.”
background
Audacy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas on January 7 in an effort to reduce its debt.
A few months later, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas
Approved The company's restructuring plan paved the way for the conversion of more than 80 percent of the company's debt into equity.
In February, Soros Fund Management acquired about $414 million of Audacy's debt, about 40 percent of the company's senior debt, becoming the company's largest shareholder.
“Soros received foreign investment to do his bidding.”
Audacy has asked the FCC to approve the transfer of its broadcast licenses to the reorganized company.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and other critics
attentionBut such a transfer would be problematic because the reorganized company would exceed statutory foreign ownership limits: Section 310(b)(4) of the Communications Act prohibits foreign owners from holding more than 25 percent of a radio station license.
In an April report, the Media Research Center
Petition “In its FCC filings, the Soros Group expressly states that it has determined that the various entities in which it expects to hold voting and/or stock ownership in the Company when it emerges from bankruptcy will result in the aggregate level of foreign ownership exceeding the 25 percent limit set forth in Section 310(b)(4) of the Communications Act,” denying the “Soros shortcut.”
Audacy urged the five-member Democratic-majority FCC to take the unprecedented step of waiving foreign ownership restrictions to allow the acquisition to go ahead, as well as postponing national security investigations of foreign owners of broadcast stations.
Democrat-approved foreign takeover
Next
New York Post report Carr said the FCC's three Democrats voted to approve Audacy's restructuring plan on Wednesday and that he has spoken with Glenn Beck about how to proceed.
“There was a vote at the FCC, and it was partisan. Three Democrats voted in favor and two Republicans voted against,” Beck said. “But here's the real problem: According to current FCC rules, foreign ownership of U.S. radio stations cannot exceed 25 percent. But Soros used foreign investment in his bid, and then asked the FCC to make an exception to the normal review process.”
“I've been very outspoken on this particular issue for the reasons you mentioned. We have a very clear process in place at the FCC, and it can take six months to go through it, it can take a year,” Carr said. [the national security] The foreign ownership at issue here should be reconsidered, but for reasons I don't understand, the FCC… for the first time in history has bypassed that process to benefit this Soros-backed group.”
“This is an unprecedented decision for the commission,” Carr added.
When asked by The Blaze News how the Soros Group managed to get around the Communications Act ban, Carr responded:
What happened here is that the Soros group came in and said, “Look, approve the acquisition of these stations right now, and we're going to cut foreign interests off from all the key decision-making bodies for now, and then we'll come back to you at a later date and we'll submit a petition and we'll go through the petition process.”
Apparently, that was enough for the Democratic committee members.
“Typically, we don't let people get licenses until we have established foreign ownership. I think they'll have to go back to the FCC and go through this foreign ownership process,” Carr continued. “And if it turns out to be — and I'm not saying it's unlikely — if it turns out to be some kind of undue level of foreign influence, the FCC should have all the tools available to them to take action.”
“This is kind of the flip side of the pattern we've seen over the last few years.”
While remedies could be as simple as further cutting off investors or selling shares, Carr suggested the FCC could “reconsider granting the licenses,” though he doesn't expect they will have to be revoked.
Rules for You
Carr addressed the impact of the decision, noting that the affected radio stations not only broadcast classic rock, but often also conservative talk shows and news.
When Beck suggested the reverse wouldn't work, Carr noted that conservative buyers have been turned down in the past when they tried to do something similar.
“Just recently, a year ago, a group of conservative buyers wanted to buy radio stations in South Florida,” Carr said, “and a number of Democrats spoke out loud and argued that the FCC couldn't allow a conservative radio buyer to buy a radio station because, in the Democrats' view, it would cost them elections in South Florida.”
Carr said this hypocrisy is a reflection of the fact that Democrats “Weaponizing the government To oppose conservative speech.”
“This is kind of the other side of a pattern that we've seen over the last few years, which is, frankly, using government power as a weapon against free speech.”
Asked if there had been any Democratic backlash against the Soros buyout, Carr laughed and told The Blaze News that the only lawmakers he could think of who would sound the alarm were Cruz, Roy and Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-New York).
Motivation
Beck asked Carr why Soros would want to invest so much money in what he sees as a “dying media.”
“Maybe there's a business reason there that they're smart enough to know about but that not everyone is aware of.”
“That's a good question,” Carr said. “With all the options out there for where to put your money today, I don't think there are a lot of billionaires sitting around saying, 'The place that's really going to make a ton of money right now is local radio stations.' Maybe there are.”
“We're seeing money fleeing local broadcasters because it's so tough right now with the competition from social media companies and over-the-top providers,” Carr continued. “So maybe they're smart enough to see a business reason that nobody else is aware of.”
NPR's critical president, Katherine Maher, a graduate of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders program and former scientist at the National Democratic Institute, which is largely funded by George Soros's Open Society Foundations, offered a possible clue as to why the cronies are trying to take control of America's radio stations.
Maher wrote the NDI in December 2010 after visiting the epicenter of the recent transition of power.
Blog PostIt was titled “Can a Radio Station Rule a Country?”
The article was about the electoral crisis that had turned into a civil war in Côte d'Ivoire and the desire of one faction to seize control of the state broadcaster, Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivorienne.
Maher cited a suggestion from a friend:
Control over RTI is a flashpoint because information is not only extremely limited but also essential to building legitimacy among the public, no matter how fragile. In the absence of a strong private media to cover electoral disputes, state broadcasters may become effectively equivalent to an Election Commission duly empowered to announce the final winner.
“Controlling the flow of information in a closed society can be tantamount to controlling the state,” Maher concluded.
Carr told Beck that once the FCC announces its final decision, Soros will “instantly” gain control of hundreds of U.S. radio stations.
Ricky Ratliff-Fellman, programming director, Blaze Media
Suggested X writes, “The Harris-Biden Administration doesn't actually care about 'malign foreign influence' in our elections. If it did, it would oppose Soros' takeover of America's second-largest radio station chain, made possible by foreign investment and Democratic support.”
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