FCC Commissioners Face Ethics Complaints for Taking Luxury Gifts From Paramount by Corey G. Johnson ++

FCC Commissioners Face Ethics Complaints for Taking Luxury Gifts From Paramount Citing a ProPublica report on Paramount providing luxury Kennedy Center gala tickets to FCC officials, the complaints note that commissioners accepted the gifts while the FCC was reviewing or about to review megamergers involving Paramount. https://www.propublica.org/article/fcc-paramount-gifts-brendan-carr-ethics-complaint-warner-bros-merger?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=secondary Two government watchdog groups have demanded investigations into whether Federal Communications Commission members violated ethics requirements by accepting luxury gala tickets from Paramount as the company sought government approval for its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The complaints cite a recent ProPublica investigation that detailed how CBS or its parent company, now Paramount, have for years given FCC commissioners tickets to the Kennedy Center honors gala, which the television network sponsors. The commissioners accepted the gifts even as the FCC was reviewing or about to review major Paramount business decisions, including two megamergers. The FCC and the agency’s inspector general did not respond to requests for comment. An FCC spokesperson previously told ProPublica that agency ethics officers have for years cleared commissioners to accept the tickets, finding it consistent with ethics law. A Paramount executive said it was a decadeslong “CBS practice to invite government officials from both parties” to the gala. FCC Officials Took Pricey Gifts From Paramount as the Company Needed Approval for Billion-Dollar Deals https://www.propublica.org/article/paramount-mergers-fcc-kennedy-center-gala by Corey G. Johnson