A chilling video featuring local news anchors of stations owned by the conservative television empire Sinclair Broadcast Group across the country reciting a script warning of “biased and false news” — word for word — went viral over the weekend.
Watch: dozens of local TV anchors read the same anti-“false news” script in unison
Dozens of anchors. Same Sinclair script.
Emily Stewart covered business and economics for Vox and wrote the newsletter The Big Squeeze, examining the ways ordinary people are being squeezed under capitalism. Before joining Vox, she worked for TheStreet.
The video has again stirred concerns about the reach of Sinclair, which owns or operates nearly 200 television stations across the country, and about its pro-Trump bias disguised in what many unassuming viewers may believe to be run-of-the-mill local news.
The video, by Timothy Burke, the video director at the sports website Deadspin, stitched together a video of local anchors from various Sinclair stations reciting the exact same script of a promotional campaign for the network. CNN’s Brian Stelter in early March reported that such a promotion, described internally as an “anchor delivered journalistic responsibility message,” was in the pipelines.
After the anchors introduce themselves and express their commitment to covering their respective communities, they go on to say they are “concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.”
The script, as transcribed by ThinkProgress, says that “some media outlets” publish “fake stories” that “just aren’t true, without checking facts first,” and warns that some members of the media “use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda” to control what people think. “This is extremely dangerous to a democracy,” the anchors say.
They ask viewers to reach out if they believe their own reporting is unfair and declare a commitment to remaining “fair, balanced, and factual.”
The clip went viral, racking up more than 6 million views on Twitter over the weekend.
Peter Chernin, a media investor and once the president of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, in a tweet called the video “insidious.” Others called it “terrifying,” “extremely biased,” and “pro-Trump propaganda.”
Of course, not everyone was so outraged. President Donald Trump on Monday tweeted in support of Sinclair, saying it is “far superior” to networks such as CNN and NBC.
Sinclair is unabashedly pro-Trump. And many people watching don’t realize it.
Sinclair Broadcast Group has a conservative, pro-Trump bent, and it is quickly becoming one of the most powerful players in mainstream media. It owns or operations about 200 stations already and is in the process of buying Tribune Media Company for $3.9 billion. If the deal is approved, that would add about 40 more stations to its ranks. (Sinclair has said it will sell off a handful of stations if the deal is approved.)
Still, the broadcast company is relatively unknown, and many viewers aren’t aware who owns the local news station they’re watching — or their potential motives.
Sinclair requires its stations to air segment “must-runs,” such as daily updates on terrorism-related news and a package in 2016 that said voters shouldn’t support Hillary Clinton because the Democratic Party was, historically, pro-slavery. It also mandated that local stations air commentary segments from former Trump aide Boris Epshteyn. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner during the 2016 campaign struck a deal with Sinclair to air exclusive interviews with Trump.
The weekend’s viral video brings a new layer to the ongoing Sinclair saga, and it raises a fresh set of questions about the independence afforded to Sinclair-owned networks and reporters and what viewers do and do not realize they’re seeing.
Scott Livingston, senior vice president of news for Sinclair, told the Baltimore Sun in an email that the stories the script is referencing are “unsubstantiated” ones, such as a false report during the 2016 campaign that the pope had endorsed Trump. “Some other false stories, like the fake ‘Pizzagate’ story, can result in dangerous consequences,” he said. “We are focused on fact-based reporting. That’s our commitment to our communities. That’s the goal of these announcements: to reiterate our commitment to reporting facts in a pursuit of truth. We consider it our honor and privilege to deliver the news each night. We seek the truth and strive to be fair.”
But Sinclair’s actions speak louder than its emailed words.
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