By now, you probably have seen a viral video of local news anchors across the nation reading from a frighteningly Orwellian script.
You may have asked: What the hell is happening to local news?
The answer is Sinclair.
Who is Sinclair? Read on ...
You may have asked: What the hell is happening to local news?
The answer is Sinclair.
Who is Sinclair? Read on ...
As someone who has been sparring with Sinclair since 2004, the response to this @Deadspin video is incredible.
So many people are so appalled by what Sinclair is doing. But that didn't discourage Sinclair's biggest fan.
if you are among the millions just getting exposed to the threat Sinclair poses to local news, media competition and, well, a functioning democracy … welcome! Let me try to catch you up.
Sinclair is a unique media company in its combination of an insatiable appetite for growth mixed with a resolute commitment to pushing a reactionary ideological agenda. If you only have time for one long read on Sinclair, I'd start with @MotherJones motherjones.com/politics/2017/…
The story of Sinclair's plotting for broadcast domination isn't new. We were warned.
Back in 1995, Sinclair Chairman David Smith was proclaiming of the company: "We're forever expanding -- like the universe."
articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-11-26/bus…
Back in 1995, Sinclair Chairman David Smith was proclaiming of the company: "We're forever expanding -- like the universe."
articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-11-26/bus…
Here @freepress we have been tangling with Sinclair since 2004, when the company owned only 62 stations: freepress.net/sites/default/…
This was back when Sinclair first got national notoriety for refusing to run a @Nightline special naming soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and trying to "swift boat" @JohnKerry
We were warned. Here's @EricKlinenberg writing in @RollingStone back in 2005 rollingstone.com/politics/news/…
The star of that piece was probably Armstrong Williams -- a Sinclair stalwart who got busted for doing commentaries touting the President Bush's education bill but failing to note he was on the administration's payroll. nytimes.com/2005/01/15/pol…
Amazingly, the @FCC under Republican Kevin Martin actually fined Sinclair for airing this propaganda. But instead of firing Armstrong Williams, Sinclair promoted him and put him in charge of one of their shell companies designed to skirt FCC rules.
Those shell companies are a Sinclair speciality. Sinclair evades FCC rules by setting up cronies as the station owners on paper. Those owners sign away total control and almost all the profits back to Sinclair. See @freepress report from 2013. freepress.net/sites/default/…
And the "fake news" promo is far from Sinclair's first foray into must-read scripted content. Let's not forget the 2012 election special they forced local affiliates to run spouting identical pro-Republican talking points talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/ohio…
And if you think that "fake news" stuff is bad, it's nothing compared to the must-run reactionary commentaries Sinclair slips into its newscasts every day, the xenophobic, anti-Muslim segments of its "Terrorism Alert Desk," or its reliably racist coverage of Black activists.
I want to be clear. There are a lot of good journalists working at Sinclair stations. And many of them are angry and frustrated about what they're being asked to include in their newscasts.
Let's also be clear: Donald Trump didn't create Sinclair. It wouldn't be this big w/out the 1996 Telecom Act, signed by Bill Clinton. Sinclair added 100+ stations in decade after 2004, when Obama admin signed off on its takeover of WJLA in DC, among others washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/styl…
Trump didn't create Sinclair. But Sinclair sure helped create President Trump. washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/styl…
Nothing to see here ... politico.com/story/2016/12/…
When Trump won, Sinclair execs started popping the champagne -- and plotting their attack on media ownership limits thestreet.com/story/13888737…
And they started wooing the presumptive FCC Chairman Ajit Pai bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
But, hey, it was just an innocent "social event" in Vegas. And as Pai told Congress, what happens in Vegas ... apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a… 
Noted propagandist Armstrong Williams (fresh off his profitable run as Ben Carson's presidential campaign manager) also invited Pai on his weekly Sinclair show for a very friendly chat wjla.com/news/videos/th…
As soon as Pai got named FCC Chairman, he went to work for Sinclair. He quickly restored the so-called UHF discount (that had been scrapped by the Obama FCC) which lets Sinclair pretend their stations reach a smaller audience than they actually do. freepress.net/news/press-rel…
Next Sinclair made its big move: the Tribune takeover. This $3.9 billion deal would give Sinclair more than 230 stations reaching 72 percent of the country. Like that @deadspin video? Get ready for more if you live in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas ...
This deal would have been unthinkable under any other administration, but the Trump/Pai regime has aided and abetted Sinclair at every step. The @nytimes detailed the whole sordid scandal in August -- a must-read if you are just catching up on Sinclair nytimes.com/2017/08/14/us/…
Pai killed a number of regulations Sinclair had long opposed, like one on the so-called "main-studio rule" that requires a station owner to operate a studio in the community it’s supposed to serve. freepress.net/news/press-rel…
A number of groups -- including @freepress -- filed to block the Sinclair deal. freepress.net/sites/default/…
Public-interest groups weren't the only ones lining up to stop Sinclair. A lot of conservatives hate the deal, too, because a super-sized Sinclair threatens to crush their businesses nytimes.com/2017/08/08/bus…
But Ajit Pai was more interested in what he could do to clear the way for Sinclair's expansion, namely by eliminating longstanding rules on how many stations one company could control in a given market. Sinclair needed to kill these rules to make the Tribune deal happen.
Sinclair isn't shy about its ambitions when talking to investors. Here's Christopher Ripley on an earnings call last summer:
And by the end of 2017, Ajit Pai had moved to kill almost all the media-ownership rules standing in Sinclair's way. freepress.net/news/press-rel…
There's really only one major limit left -- the 39% national ownership cap -- and Pai is trying to kill that one, too, though it should take an act of Congress to actually do it. freepress.net/news/press-rel…
Let's just say Sinclair's investment in Trump is really paying off.
Ajit Pai has done so many favors for Sinclair so fast that the FCC's inspector general is investigating him nytimes.com/2018/02/15/tec…
Obviously, Pai should recuse himself from even considering this deal given his conflicts. But, well, ethics are not this administration's top priority. freepress.net/news/press-rel…
Sinclair is still waiting for its deal to be formally approved -- and it's up to its old tricks to try to get it done. Like selling stations to its cronies to get under the legal caps, while maintaining total control of the operations. variety.com/2018/tv/news/s…
And sucking up to the president by forcing journalists to parrot his talking points. "I felt like a POW recording a message," one of the local Sinclair anchors told CNN money.cnn.com/2018/03/07/med…
And running the rants of noted Nazi sympathizers like Seb Gorka. (OK, I don't know how this helps them but it's so crazy and I meant to mention it earlier in the thread. I mean, WTF?) seattlepi.com/seattlenews/ar…
And Boris Epshteyn is on the air like 9 times a week, spouting his crazy defenses of Trump in between traffic and weather. He defended the Trump's response to Charlottesville, people ...
This Sinclair-Tribune merger is terrible for local journalism. It harms local communities. nymag.com/daily/intellig…
It's a threat to our democracy. philly.com/philly/columni…
So our first priority should be to stop Sinclair from getting bigger. The Tribune deal isn't done yet, and this @Deadspin video has created a political opening to actually stop it. But it's going to take huge push.
Want to help? Start by signing up here: act.freepress.net/sign/journ_tru…
Want to help? Start by signing up here: act.freepress.net/sign/journ_tru…
Call your members of Congress (especially the Republicans!) and ask them why there have been ZERO hearings on Sinclair. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
And make a donation to @freepress to help us sue the @FCC and overturn the rules that are making it possible for Sinclair to get even bigger. They gutted the rules without evidence or public input, and we've won in court before. freepress.net/news/press-rel…
And show that @Deadspin video to your family, friends and neighbors -- who probably aren't journalists and might not be on Twitter. Help them get outraged.
Because it can get worse. But it doesn't have to.
(End Sinclair rant.)
Because it can get worse. But it doesn't have to.
(End Sinclair rant.)
