You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Forces Anchors to Recite Trumpian Commentary

HeadlineApr 03, 2018

Meanwhile, President Trump turned to Twitter Monday to defend Sinclair Broadcast Group, after the right-wing media conglomerate ordered news anchors at scores of its affiliate stations to recite nearly identical “must-read” commentaries warning of the dangers of “fake news” in language that echoed President Trump’s rhetoric. The commentaries reached millions of viewers last month, and drew widespread attention after the website Deadspin published a video showing side-by-side comparisons of the broadcasts from 45 Sinclair-owned stations.

Sinclair news anchors: “The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media. More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories, stories that simply aren’t true, without checking facts first. Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control exactly what people think. And this is extremely dangerous to our democracy.”

After the video went viral and drew coverage on TV news networks, President Trump tweeted his support for Sinclair. Trump’s defense came as the Justice Department and the FCC are reviewing Sinclair’s $3.9 billion bid to buy Tribune Media—a deal that would see it add dozens of stations to its more than 170 local TV outlets across the U.S. After headlines, we’ll go to Washington and speak with Mother Jones reporter Andy Kroll about the rise of Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top