Day 438: Trump Touts Propagandist TV Operator Sinclair
Kushner previously bragged about working out a deal with the company to obtain better coverage.
Sinclair Broadcast Group has continued to swoop up television stations across the country, and is now the largest TV operator in the U.S. by number of stations. Entrenched in over 100 markets, they currently own nearly 200 stations, and have dozens of additional acquisitions pending.
In December 2016, Politico reported that Jared Kushner openly bragged that the Trump team struck a deal with Sinclair for better coverage and more coverage.
Donald Trump’s campaign struck a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group during the campaign to try and secure better media coverage, his son-in-law Jared Kushner told business executives Friday in Manhattan.
Kushner said the agreement with Sinclair, which owns television stations across the country in many swing states and often packages news for their affiliates to run, gave them more access to Trump and the campaign, according to six people who heard his remarks.
Millions of people are tuning in to their local stations and hearing something that is presented as news such but is decidedly slanted. That’s the definition of propaganda.
Sinclair gives their stations “must-run” scripts: pieces that all of their stations are forced to read on air. This leads to anchors across the country sounding like a chorus of robots.
“Must-runs” also feature former Trump surrogates delivering op-ed content multiple times per day.
Even while under fire for requiring its outlets to run conservative content, Sinclair Broadcast Group is increasing the “must-run” segments across its affiliates featuring former Trump White House official Boris Epshteyn to nine times a week, the company confirmed on Monday.
As videos of anchors across the country reading the same script circle online and cable news, and questions about Sinclair’s reach abound, Trump vigorously defended Sinclair.
Sinclair has taken advantage of the Trump administration’s failure to enforce FCC rules dealing with station owners not being allowed to own stations that enter households of more than 39% of the U.S. population.
They are a decidedly right-leaning organization, and have been for some time, despite their lower profile compared to the Fox News.
As Sinclair expanded across the country, so too did its conservative programming. Its ideological bent first came under scrutiny in 2004, when it sent a reporting crew to Iraq with the expressed intention of finding more positive stories about the war there. During the presidential election that year, it announced plans to air an hour-long special attacking Democratic nominee John Kerry. Sinclair’s Washington bureau chief protested the special, telling NPR it was “biased political propaganda.” He was subsequently fired.
Today, local television stations owned by Sinclair that were once apolitical have grown more conservative. From KOMO 4 News in Seattle, Washington, to WJLA 7 in Washington, D.C., there has been an increase in political news and programming, including the addition of shows like “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson” to “The Right Side with Armstrong Williams.” Sinclair has also added reliably conservative political analysts like Mark Hyman, a former Sinclair executive, and Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump spokesperson. Many nightly news broadcasts have taken a more conservative tone, as well.
John Oliver recorded a lengthy piece about Sinclair last year, highlighting many of these issues, including the fact that millions of people rely on local news and don’t realize that what they’re watching has a steep bias.
It’s not a shock that Trump is defending Sinclair. He’s worked out deals with them, given them passes to continue acquiring more stations, and he needs favorable coverage anywhere he can get it, especially if he wants to run for re-election in 2020.
To pretend that Sinclair has no bias, however, is simply a farce. They dictate content and force their anchors to read scripts that are large talking points of the conservative movement. When people watch Fox News or visit Breitbart, the vast majority understand they’re getting right-leaning content. However, when someone flips on Channel 5 to watch their local news and see the same faces they have for decades, the content is a wolf in sheep’s clothing: presented as neutral, it’s anything but.
438 days in, 1024 to go
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