Los Angeles Times

Sinclair Broadcast Group has reached deals to sell nearly two dozen television stations as it works to get regulators to sign off on its purchase of Tribune Media. Sinclair said that the move to sell the 23 stations in 18 markets, some of which are owned by Sinclair and some by Tribune, was needed to obtain government approval for the $3.9 billion purchase of fellow television-station owner Tribune.

AT&T’s chief executive, Randall Stephenson, attacked the Justice Department’s lawsuit to block its merger with Time Warner, saying that a combined company would be no different from the Silicon Valley giants that make and distribute video content. As the last witness for the defense in the Justice Department’s legal battle against AT&T’s $85.4 billion deal to buy Time Warner,  Stephenson portrayed the 140-year-old phone giant as being in an existential crisis and in need of the deal with Time Warner to compete against tech companies.

Michael Ferro, who resigned recently as chairman of Chicago-based newspaper chain Tronc, has struck a deal to sell his entire stake in the company, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ferro, who owned more than 25% of Tronc -- the parent of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other newspapers -- agreed to sell his more than 9 million shares at $23 per share, or $208.6 million, to McCormick Media, pending approval by regulators.

After two days and more than 10 hours of questioning of Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, there was widespread consensus among lawmakers that social media technology — and its potential for abuse — had far outpaced Washington and that Congress should step in to close the gap. But the agreement largely ended there.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's appearance before Congress turned into something of a pointed gripe session, with both Democratic and Republican senators attacking Facebook for failing to protect users’ data and stop Russian election interference, and raising questions about whether Facebook should be more heavily regulated. Of specific interest were the revelations that sensitive data of as many as 87 million Facebook users were harvested without explicit permission by a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, which was connected to the Trump campaign.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has once again mobilized its local television stations to criticize media competitors, accusing CNN of "dishonesty and hypocrisy."  CNN media reporter Brian Stelter had came down hard on the network for its  mandated messaging condemning "one-sided news stories" and "bias." Many Sinclair journalists weren't happy with their corporate leaders either. Sinclair Chief Executive Chris Ripley tried to reassure employees in an internal memo, writing that local journalists had borne the brunt of the "politically motivated" backlash.