Last year, Newsmax followed in the footsteps of the Media Research Center by fretting over funds that include money from George Soros buying a group of Spanish-language radio stations. And like the MRC, it’s fretting over another Soros-backed radio group purchase, as noted in an anonymously written Feb. 14 article:
Left-leaning billionaire George Soros is prepping to take a huge stake in Audacy, America’s second-largest radio company with its more than 220 stations nationwide, the New York Post reported Wednesday, citing court filings and sources close to the matter.
Soros Fund Management has, according to the report, bought $400 million of debt in Audacy. The Post reported the bankruptcy filings. The Post said the radio giant filed for bankruptcy protection in January with close to $2 billion in debt.
The Post acknowledged an “insider close to the situation,” who is reportedly a Republican. That person speculated Soros may be buying the big stake to exert a greater influence as the November election draws near.
No on-the-record evidence was offered to support that anonymous speculation.
Michael Katz complained about another Soros-related radio buy in an April 9 article:
A management fund created by billionaire liberal George Soros is set to add to its burgeoning audio empire after it acquired in February a controlling interest in bankrupt Audacy, the second-largest radio company in the U.S. behind iHeart Media.
Soros Fund Management, which is now controlled by Soros’ nonprofit Open Society Foundations, has also privately discussed acquiring other major radio companies that are struggling, such as the publicly traded Cumulus Media, Semafor reported Sunday, citing three people who have been involved in discussions with Soros executives.
The acquisition of Audacy gives Soros Fund Management 230 radio stations nationwide — including New York’s WFAN and 1010 WINS, as well as Los Angeles-based KROQ, per bankruptcy filings, the New York Post reported Tuesday, adding the fund also took on roughly $400 million of Audacy’s debt.
Katz made sure to add more baseless partisan speculation:
Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., on Monday called on FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel to investigate Soros’ purchase of Audacy, the Daily Caller reported Tuesday.
“I believe this sale is the latest in a series of moves by a partisan, progressive billionaire to consolidate control over the media and flood hundreds of radio stations with far-left ideology and propaganda,” Langworthy wrote in a letter to Rosenworcel, according to the Daily Caller. “Furthermore, I believe that what we could lose in the process is the unique lifeline that local radio brings through both local connection and diversity of thought that have been so important to Americans, particularly in recent years.”
Interesting that both Newsmax articles make sure to identify Soros as “liberal” or “left-leaning,” but did not identify the right-wing bias of their sources in the New York Post and the Daily Caller.
The apparently unironically named Charlie McCarthy even called on the head of the MRC tor rant about these radio purchases in an April 23 article:
Media Research Center (MRC) President Brent Bozell on Tuesday filed a formal petition with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to request that the agency not fast-track billionaire liberal George Soros’ attempt to take over Audacy, the second-largest radio company in the U.S. behind iHeart Media.
Soros and his Soros Fund Management (SFM) have pushed for the FCC to approve assignment applications to become the largest shareholder in Audacy, MRC said.
McCarthy inserted right-wing anti-Soros talking points as well:
From 2016 to 2020, Soros gave more than $130 million to other media organizations to push his left-wing agenda, according to MRC. He also has given to the International Fact-Checking Network, which coordinates censorship efforts between various left-wing outlets such as The Washington Post and Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp).
A fund linked to Soros last summer joined a consortium of former lenders who paid $350 million for bankrupt Vice Media, which at its peak was valued at $6 billion, the Post reported.
In 2022, Soros backed the formation of a new Hispanic media company known as the Latino Media Network after the purchase of 10 radio stations from TelevisaUnivision. That acquisition was in response to polls showing Democrats were losing support among Latinos.
McCarthy made no mention of how his employer is run by a close personal friend of Donald Trump and pushes a right-wing agenda.
The MRC’s effort to block fast-tracking of the deal came to naught, and Nicole Wells served up more anonymous partisan speculation while noting the news in a June 18 article:
The Democrat-majority Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is fast-tracking progressive billionaire George Soros’ takeover of the second-largest radio network in the United States just months before the 2024 presidential election.
In February, Soros Fund Management purchased $400 million of debt in Audacy, which is the No. 2 U.S. broadcaster after iHeartMedia, the New York Post reported, citing bankruptcy filings.
The network, which owns more than 220 stations nationwide and reaches 165 million monthly listeners, broadcasts a small number of conservative shows from hosts including Erick Erickson, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Dana Loesch.
Their days at a Soros-controlled station could be numbered, a source with knowledge of the deal told the Post.
“The idea that George Soros is buying hundreds of local radio stations right before a national election and will keep broadcasting Sean Hannity and other conservative talk radio hosts on Audacy is not credible,” the source said.
There was no mention of the fact that many of these stations currently largely block non-conservative opinions by filling out their programming with right-wing radio hosts.
A June 21 article by Katz parroted more right-wing fearmongering about the deal:
Brendan Carr, one of two Republican members of the five-member Federal Communications Commission, warned Thursday on Newsmax about an effort by a foreign company founded by liberal billionaire George Soros that is seeking to fast-track the purchase of more than 200 radio stations in the U.S.
In February, Soros Fund Management reportedly purchased $400 million of debt in Audacy, which is the No. 2 U.S. broadcaster behind iHeartMedia. Audacy, which owns more than 220 stations nationwide and reaches 165 million monthly listeners, features a number of conservative shows from hosts that include Erick Erickson, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Dana Loesch.
[…]“We need Congress to step in and to call attention to this so that the FCC doesn’t do this through some sort of Soros shenanigans at the bureau level,” Carr told “Prime News.” “Let’s at least take this vote at the commission level because … there’s going to be foreign investment here.
“We don’t know where the foreign investment is coming from because they haven’t specified yet. They’ve said, Waive that rule. Let us take full control of these stations right now, and then we’ll come back to the FCC down the road and go through that foreign ownership review process. We need to take care of this right now at the outset.”
In April, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, called for vigorous FCC oversight “to ensure U.S. radio stations are not subject to undue influence.”
Katz quoted nobody defending the Soros purchase, meaning his article is biased and unbalanced and filled with partisan right-wing attacks that go unrebutted.