Bernie Sanders Would Put ‘Immediate Moratorium’ On Media Mergers.

Story by Inside Radio

Bernie Sanders is not a fan of corporate mergers and acquisitions. As part of his 2020 agenda, the Presidential candidate says that his administration “would place aggressive checks on media M&A and increase antitrust enforcement of Silicon Valley in order to reform the media industry and better protect independent journalism,” according to a self-scribed proposal published Monday in the Columbia Journalism Review.

The bottom line, according to the publication: “The Sanders plan offers the most comprehensive picture to date on how far he would go to rein in Big Media and Big Tech. It would effectively neuter the tech, media and telecom industry from pursuing further consolidation and put a freeze on all substantive future M&A activity.”

For one, he writes, “We are not going to rubber stamp proposals like the new plan to merge CBS and Viacom into a $30 billion colossus.” As Inside Radio reported Aug. 13, after years of discussions, the two companies agreed to merge under the combined name of ViacomCBS Inc. The merger is designed to reunite the two entities that have operated separately for the past 13 years and includes well-known media brands such as Paramount Pictures, CBS, Showtime and MTV.

In addition, the Sanders plan would appoint federal officials “who more stringently enforce antitrust laws” to prevent Facebook and Google from doing financial harm to news organizations; put “an immediate moratorium” on major media mergers “until we can better understand the true effect these transactions have on our democracy”; and require media corporations “to disclose whether or not their corporate transactions and merger proposals will involve significant journalism layoffs.”

Further, Sanders says he would require media corporations to give employees “the opportunity to purchase media outlets through employee stock-ownership plans” before putting the company up for sale, he writes in the Columbia Review. And in a proposal that would impact the radio and television industries, he says he would “limit the number of stations that large broadcasting corporations can own in each market and nationwide.” As well, he proposes placing a tax on targeted advertising “to fund nonprofit civic-minded media,” part of a larger plan to “increase funding for programs that support public media.”