How America's largest local TV owner turned its news anchors into soldiers in Trump's war on the media: https://t.co/iLVtKRQycL pic.twitter.com/dMdSGellH3
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) March 31, 2018
Last weekend, the Sinclair Broadcasting Group came under fire when Deadspin put together the above damning video compilation of local news stations across the country being forced to read from a script warning of “biased and false news.” As the right-wing group was lambasted by progressive media, employees began anonymously coming forward to reveal some of the more nefarious practices of the company.
Now, the consumer watchdog organization Allied Progress is trying to prevent Sinclair from acquiring even more stations in a proposed merger with Tribune Media. Allied is calling for the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to put a stop to the merger, which would result in the largest local television news monopoly in American history, with Sinclair stations reaching 72 percent of households in the United States.
Allied announced today in a press release a six-figure, one-week ad buy to run anti-Sinclair advertisements on four Sinclair-owned stations in Washington, D.C., Des Moines, Seattle, and Sinclair’s flagship Fox News station in Baltimore, starting this Friday, April 6.
“Americans trust local media to deliver objective news about the communities where they live and work, but those watching scores of Sinclair stations around the country last week were instead force-fed politically inspired, anti-media propaganda that should have earned President Trump a writing credit. That so many local anchors would have to choose between providing for their families and demonstrating sound journalistic integrity only underscores the importance of stopping Sinclair’s stated goal of controlling every local news station in the country. The Sinclair/Tribune merger must be rejected,” said Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress.
Frisch also notes that should this merger go through, as Sinclair’s anchors were forced to say, this would be “extremely dangerous to a democracy.”
You can watch the 30 second spot below:
(Via Broadcasting Cable, Allied)