It’s not only Fox News that covers Trump’s back. Sinclair Broadcasting, the largest owner of local TV stations in the U.S., is widely known as a champion of right-wing GOP causes. During the presidential election Sinclair and the Trump campaign struck a deal in order to gain favorable media coverage .Recently they started a promotional campaign for their local news outlets to broadcast.
Now Sinclair has tailored promotional spots for its almost 200 local news outlets that seem to mirror parts of Trump’s oft repeated bogus “fake news” claims. Their corporate memo to local stations dictates the promo be scheduled “to create maximum reach and frequency.”
One of Sinclair’s local anchors — who remained anonymous for fear of retribution — told CNN: “I felt like a POW recording a message,” […] On its face, some of the language is not controversial. But that’s precisely why some staffers were so troubled by it. The promo script, they say, belies Sinclair management’s actual agenda to tilt reporting to the right.
CNN reports: The promos begin with one or two anchors introducing themselves and saying “I’m [we are] extremely proud of the quality, balanced journalism that [proper news brand name of local station] produces. But I’m [we are] concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country.”
Then the media bashing begins.
“The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media,” the script says. “More alarming, national media outlets are publishing these same fake stories without checking facts first. Unfortunately, some members of the national media are using their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control ‘exactly what people think’ … This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.”
Then the anchors are supposed to strike a more positive tone and say that their local station pursues the truth. “We understand Truth is neither politically ‘left or right.’ Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.”
[…]At the end of the promo, viewers are encouraged to send in feedback “if you believe our coverage is unfair.” The instructions say that “corporate will monitor the comments and send replies to your audience on your behalf.” In other words, local stations are cut out of the interactions with viewers. Management will handle it instead.
Sinclair’s political bent has been a factor in its pending acquisition of Tribune Media. Sinclair is already the biggest owner of local television stations in the country — with 173 it either owns or operates — and Tribune will give it dozens more, furthering the company’s ambitions. Some analysts believe Sinclair wants to rival Fox News, although officials at Sinclair have rejected those suggestions.
Vermont’s own little TV station, WCAX, formerly locally owned and managed, was scooped up last year not by Sinclair but by Gray Television. The large Atlanta Georgia-based communication corporation may not share Sinclair’s solid right wing reputation but they certainly have their sights set on New Hampshire’s First-in-the–Nation© presidential primary’s advertising profits. And not to be paranoid but it’s worth being watchful of our neighbor state’s media scene. Jacqueline Policastro, the Washington bureau chief for Gray Television, was among those at a special White House dinner after Trump addressed Congress last year. Attending the Trump administration’s effort to court and spark local TV news markets were reporters from Hearst, Scripps, Cox, Nexstar, and naturally, Sinclair.
Commenting in an interview early this year on how he thought President Trump might weather the Mueller investigation, former White House Counsel John Dean (of Watergate notoriety) observed: “I think there’s more likelihood (Nixon) might have survived if there’d been a Fox News.” The implication, of course, is that with the backing of Fox News — or another powerful national media propaganda outlet — even Richard Nixon, how ever damaged and corrupt as a leader, could have clung to power.
And now, facing multiple investigations, President Trump can apparently count not only on Fox News nationally but on Sinclair Broadcasting to cover his troubled a … ah, backside at the local level, while all three entities fart on democracy.
