Thread by @JesseLehrich

let’s talk about Sinclair Broadcast Group, and the very real threat it poses to our democracy…

so Sinclair is a giant telecomms conglomerate & the largest TV station operator in the US.

they own 193 local TV stations across 89 media markets, reaching 2 out of every 5 American households.

Sinclair pushes right-wing talking points like Fox News, but it’s far more pernicious.

Most people know Fox’s slant, but Sinclair slips their propaganda slyly into local news broadcasts – and 76% of viewers trust their local TV news:
poynter.org/ethics-trust/2…

Sinclair has been a sinister actor for decades. we don’t need to go through every episode, but it’s worth highlighting a couple.

like the time in 2004 when they sent 2 of their top guys to Iraq to report the feel-good “untold stories” of Bush's war:
baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-20…

...or the time later that year, days before the election, when they announced they their channels would air “Stolen Honor” – a 45-minute “documentary” accusing John Kerry of betraying Vietnam POWs...
cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITI…

...Sinclair’s Jon Leiberman spoke out, calling the documentary "biased political propaganda, with clear intentions to sway this election."

Leiberman had been one of the guys doing positive stories for Bush from Iraq. nevertheless, Sinclair fired him.
baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-20…

in 2005, it was revealed the Bush admin improperly paid Armstrong Williams $240K to hype No Child Left Behind on TV, including in a Sinclair “interview.”

other outlets cut ties with Williams – but not Sinclair. (he now owns multiple Sinclair stations.)
rollingstone.com/politics/polit…

in 2012, the night before the election, Sinclair ran a 30-minute hit piece on Obama presented as a “local news” special from Columbus, OH, where it preempted national programming.

it was syndicated & ran on other stations in OH, FL, NC, and IA.
archives.cjr.org/united_states_…

in 2016, it was even more egregious –– and again, keep in mind this company controls 193 TV stations.

Sinclair’s chairman admitted that he met with Trump during the campaign and literally told him: “We are here to deliver your message.”
theguardian.com/media/2018/apr…

Trump retreated from mainstream media in 2016, but Sinclair landed 15 exclusive interviews with him & 10 more with Pence. very favorable.

meanwhile, Sinclair repeatedly assembled anti-Hillary news packages and forced all their local stations to run them.
washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/styl…

Jared Kushner later boasted that he’d brokered a deal with Sinclair in which the campaign traded access to Trump in exchange for softball interviews and positive coverage.
politico.com/story/2016/12/…

in 2017, Sinclair hired former Trump spox Boris Epshteyn as chief political analyst.

his propaganda segments – which @ErikWemple dubbed “A Couple of Minutes of Gaslighting With Boris” – were now regularly featured in “local news” broadcasts nationwide.
washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wem…

among other mainstays at Sinclair, Boris was joining:

– Sharyl Attkisson, a leading anti-vaxxer who resigned from CBS after they rebuffed her right-wing advocacy

– Kristine Frazao, a former anchor at Kremlin-run RT, where she frequently interviewed Alex Jones

anyways, Sinclair has continued to grow both more ambitious and Trumpier, drawing some negative attention along the way.

a failed bid to acquire Tribune Media, which would’ve put Sinclair in 72% of US households led to this fantastic @JohnOliver takedown:

the other moment that drew national scorn was when Sinclair – in service of Trump’s war on the press – forced local anchors around the country to read an identical, cultish script decrying ‘fake news.’

you can watch the amazing/horrifying mashup here:

but the setbacks haven’t thwarted Sinclair’s grand plans.

they recently hired:
– Lara Logan, who left CBS after her false Benghazi hit piece
– James Rosen & Eric Bolling, who both left Fox amid a sexual misconduct probe
– ex-Trump aides Kaelan Dorr & (noted bigot) Seb Gorka

to recap, Sinclair’s newsroom now includes:

3 TRUMP AIDES:
➞ Boris Epshteyn
➞ Seb Gorka
➞ Kaelan Dorr

2 SCANDAL-PLAGUED FOX EXPATS:
➞ Eric Bolling
➞ James Rosen

2 SCANDAL-PLAGUED CBS EXPATS:
➞ Lara Logan
➞ Sharyl Attkisson

1 FORMER RT ANCHOR
➞ Kristine Frazao

ok I promise I’m almost done here -- but this last part is important.

because Sinclair is still aggressively moving to expand & get all this BS propaganda in front of new groups of viewers who won’t know what they’re being served…

in January, Sinclair launched a free streaming service with the goal of delivering local “news” to cord-cutters:
techcrunch.com/2019/01/16/loc…

and now they’re closing in on a multi-billion dollar acquisition of regional sports networks from Disney:
baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz…

media giants like Sinclair have seen exponential growth & operate with little accountability – their propaganda misinforms millions of unguarded viewers.

the antitrust momentum around Big Tech is exciting – but we all need to make sure that Big Media doesn't get a free pass.