This national message from Sinclair comes as regulators are considering whether to approve its nearly $4 billion deal to acquire Tribune Media Co.
Sinclair Broadcast Group is defending itself against criticism for a recent on-air promotional message many of its local news anchors were asked to read that warned viewers about “false news” on competing media outlets.
Dozens of stations belonging to the nation’s largest broadcaster have aired video promotions in the last few weeks in which their local on-air news hosts voice concerns about “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country.” The anchors then go on to say that many media outlets are publishing “fake stories” and pushing agendas.
The promotion looks unique in each market, but Sinclair’s corporate Hunt Valley, Md.-headquarters scripted and distributed it to its stations.
Disapproval of the policy ranges from nation to local. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee tweeted Monday his condemnation of the segments. “Local news stations now required by Sinclair Broadcasting to parrot the talking points of the President, moving America one step closer to its own version of state run media. And another freedom is assailed under this Administration.
Local news stations now required by Sinclair Broadcasting to parrot the talking points of the President, moving America one step closer to its own version of state run media. And another freedom is assailed under this Administration. https://t.co/LwBnqdhM3b
In Kentucky, Amy McGrath, a Democratic candidate for the state’s sixth congressional district tweeted she was pulling campaign ads from the Lexington, Ky. Sinclair-owned station and would ask other Democratic congressional candidates to refuse to buy campaign advertising from Sinclair stations. The “right-wing script,” she said on Twitter, “eerily mimics the propaganda efforts that authoritarian regimes often use to control the media in their own country.”
If you’re not following this story, see the following link from Deadspin that edited dozens of local news anchors from across the country read ing the same Sinclair-mandated script last week https://t.co/6EqvEeBCgm I’ve just put out the following statement to the media: pic.twitter.com/qJ4245BvpY
And in Cincinnati, City Councilman P. G. Sittenfeld tweeted that he will no longer watch local Channel 12 after seeing the local anchors — and others across the country — reading the same script. “Creepy, cult-ish, and way too propagandistic for my taste,” the Democrat said in tweet Sunday.
This national message from Sinclair comes as regulators are considering whether to approve its nearly $4 billion deal to acquire Tribune Media Co. The acquisition, announced in May 2017, would increase Sinclair’s number of TV stations from 193 to 220 or more — and its reach of U. S. homes to 72%.
Critics of the merger say this national scripted promotion offers a hint at how an even-larger Sinclair could spread conservative-leaning messages across the largest-ever collection of local media outlets.
Awareness about the promotions has grown in the last few days after sports news site Deadspin edited together a video of dozens of local Sinclair stations broadcasts echoing each other. The site posted it on Twitter — it had more than 7 million views midday Monday — and its other social media pages Saturday and saw it replayed on HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Sunday. Non-profit progressive news group ThinkProgress also put together its own video and posted it on its YouTube page.
How America’s largest local TV owner turned its news anchors into soldiers in Trump’s war on the media: https://t.co/iLVtKRQycL pic.twitter.com/dMdSGellH3
Several news outlets have reported on the promotions and President Trump took some of those to task on Twitter Monday,. “So funny to watch Fake News Networks… criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased,” he tweeted. “Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.”
So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.
Sinclair produced the spots to express concern about the spread of such false media reports such as the ” Pope Endorses Trump” fake news story, and “Pizzagate” conspiracy story, both of which emerged just before the 2016 presidential election and can have “potentially dangerous consequences, said Scott Livingston, Sinclair’s senior vice president of news, in a statement sent to USA TODAY.
“It is ironic that we would be attacked for messages promoting our journalistic initiative for fair and objective reporting, and for specifically asking the public to hold our newsrooms accountable,” he said. “Our local stations keep our audiences’ trust by staying focused on fact-based reporting and clearly identifying commentary.”
Last month, anchors told CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, who broke the story about the planned Sinclair promotion, their concerns in recording the promos. “I felt like a POW recording a message,” one of the anchors told the Reliable Sources host.
In a followup story Monday on CNN.com, Stelter noted how the viral video ignited the issue and quoted another Sinclair journalist, an investigative reporter, who said, “It sickens me the way this company is encroaching upon trusted news brands in rural markets.”
In the Sinclair script, which Stelter obtained and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer posted Friday, local anchors begin the video segment stating their pride in “the quality, balanced journalism that (their station) produces.”
Then, the anchor or anchors expound on how “the sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media,” and that many media outlets are “publishing these same fake stories without checking facts first,” the script says. It goes on to warn that some media pushing “their own personal bias and agenda to control ‘exactly what people think’… This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.”
Many liberals have called out Sinclair for the same behavior that these promotions decry. The company got some attention in April for hiring Boris Epshteyn, a special assistant to President Trump, as a chief political analyst. His “Bottom Line with Boris” commentary segments, which appear across Sinclair’s network of stations, are often attacked as misinformation that touts a pro-Trump agenda.
