We should talk about Sinclair Broadcasting Group

[turnipthebeet]

Article with a pretty good summary and some links, including a link to tell if you are in one of their areas. They are in about 72% of US homes. slate.com/culture/2018/04/watch-sinclair-broadcast-group-local-news-anchors-parrot-their-bosses-opinions-in-perfect-deafening-unison.html

Here is John Oliver’s great segment about it: youtu.be/GvtNyOzGogc

And if you don’t think this is a big deal because you don’t watch the local news, just think about who does.

[turnipthebeet]

[Pom]

“We need to talk about Kevin”, oops I mean Sinclair Propoganda Network.

[pitta12]

We have one here. I refuse to let it be turned on in our house. The other local station doesn’t have very good anchors so I end up watching national cable news most of the time and reading the local paper. Sinclair is scary.

[sushi]

Holy fuck to that john oliver segment. I don't know how I hadn't seen that before

[miniroller]

Apr 1, 2018 10:41:43 GMT -5 sushi said:

Holy fuck to that john oliver segment. I don't know how I hadn't seen that before

I didn’t think I had, but I was freaking out to H (on the way to Easter dinner) & he says we have; it’s just from last year.
DUDE. The deception is unnerving. So many people will have no idea!
But yet they’re calling us (liberals) the SHEEPLE! It’s totally the KGB technique of accusing your enemies of your faults! 😡
It’s the flipping news!

[LoveTrains]

They recently bought one of our affiliates. It's horrifying. They play these "stories" which is simply trumper propaganda. I switched my local news because of it and have been boycotting the channel. It's WJAR.

[WOT?*]

WIKI list of stations owned by Sinclair (since I was coming here to post the MSN article when I saw this.)

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stations_owned_or_operated_by_Sinclair_Broadcast_Group

The MSN story with video and tweets that I first saw: www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sinclair-broadcast-group-faces-backlash-over-scripted-promos-‘this-is-extremely-dangerous-to-our-democracy’/ar-AAvlipq?ocid=spartanntp

[mbcdefg]

December 2016 story:

Kushner: We struck deal with Sinclair for straighter coverage

www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-campaign-sinclair-broadcasting-jared-kushner-232764

[sonrisa]

i found it fascinating to look at the markets they serve - especially when you correlate it with the voting habits of those markets.

[turnipthebeet]

Apr 1, 2018 21:27:49 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

i found it fascinating to look at the markets they serve - especially when you correlate it with the voting habits of those markets.

And the electoral college representation of those markets.

[prettyinpearls]

My local channel is in that video tweet and it gets accused of being left leaning all the time. I figured their little “fair reporting” blurb was in response to all the hate they get from the right on their social media.

[miniroller]

Here’s what 45 has to say:

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.

*please just let me know if anyone would prefer I move this to today’s 45-Russia thread

[miniroller]

If George Soros owned dozens of TV stations and forced all the affiliates to read the same script, the entire Republican and conservative universe would have already spontaneously combusted. The conflagration on Fox would rival anything we've seen.
RIGHT?!

[2curlydogs]

Some interesting info on their contracts. A screenshot of their contract was sent to a reporter for the LA Times with some explanation.

Apparently this isn't unusual language? Jesus.

[candreco]

Ick, I wondered what that little bit was on my local DC ABC affiliate last week. Guess I'll switch for weather/traffic in the mornings.

[Champagne Supernova]

I had to stop watching KOMO 4 because of this and it's really sad because we love the news anchors.

[zitiqueen]

These are the clowns that bought WGN. So even if the second season wasn't nearly as strong as the first and the episodes didn't cost a zillions dollars each to produce, there was no way in hell Underground was ever coming back.

[msmerymac]

Apr 2, 2018 11:49:53 GMT -5 Champagne Supernova said:

I had to stop watching KOMO 4 because of this and it's really sad because we love the news anchors.

I have a friend who works for them. I had no idea. 

Apparently both the NBC and CBS affiliates in my brother's city are Sinclair!

[mryrcn]

Apr 2, 2018 11:49:53 GMT -5 Champagne Supernova said:

I had to stop watching KOMO 4 because of this and it's really sad because we love the news anchors.

Oh man that is the station that Steve Pool is on.  I adore him.  I do like their local anchors as well.  I don't watch the local news much but when I do it is typically KOMO. 

[Champagne Supernova]

mryrcn, yup, he's the best. It's so sad. I love having the 4pm segment on the background when I'm prepping dinner.

msmerymac, oh man, it's really shitty. I hate that they're being forced to feed bullshit to the public.

[mryrcn]

Champagne Supernova, - oh man. I just realized that a friend of mine works there as well. I don't think this will go over well in this area.

[anodyne]

Is there any push-back. Any advertisers pulling spots? Any anchors responding?

[sushi]

Did anyone see Sinclair responded, basically denying everything while also blaming the left? Evil fucks

[turnipthebeet]

There are calls for a boycott. But it won’t be easy. You basically would have to pay attention to who advertises on your local station and contact them.

Here’s more:
adage.com/article/media/a-sinclair-broadcasting-ad-boycott-easy/312953/

[Jillaroo]

.

[Jillaroo]

.

[vicky]

In response to the Sinclair message aired: "WMSN/FOX47 Madison did not air the Sinclair promotional announcement during our 9pm news this weekend. Rather, we stayed true to our commitment to provide our Madison area viewers local news, weather and sports of interest to them."

[gerberdaisy]

Our NBC and CBS local affiliates are both owned by them. I've refused to watch since the John Oliver Segment aired and our local news became more vocal about who owns those stations.

I'm surprised our local indivisible group hasn't discussed this more and how to determine advertisers to contact.

[msmerymac]

Apr 2, 2018 16:15:05 GMT -5 anodyne said:

Is there any push-back. Any advertisers pulling spots? Any anchors responding?

A station in Wisconsin said they declined to air that problematic spot. Individual anchors and reporters are pretty hamstrung with what they're allowed to do or not, but station managers/stations as a whole can push back against ownership.