How Sinclair became the most insidious force in local TV news

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Sinclair stands alone in its brazen use of the public airwaves to promote an extreme right-wing agenda to advance its business interests. From its hiring practices to its frequent disregard of journalistic values, the company is an unapologetic outlier among TV station owners. At one time, journalists applying for jobs at Sinclair were questioned by the company’s owners about their views on abortion and other hot-button political issues — and turned down if they were “too liberal.” Sinclair’s news website found a way to get around this time-consuming process by hiring as reporters the Republican National Committee’s deputy press secretary and an operative for a right-wing provocateur. Sinclair executives also solicited donations from its news directors for the company’s political action committee, which finances candidates that support its conservative deregulatory agenda. All of this is a dramatic departure from traditional newsroom norms, which try to maintain at least the appearance of neutrality. Indeed, most broadcast outlets discourage or prohibit political donations from journalists involved in campaign coverage to avoid any suggestion of bias. But Sinclair seems less concerned about hewing to such standards.

What is to be done? The Federal Communications Commission should stop Sinclair from getting bigger — but it won’t. Congress should hold oversight hearings and thoroughly investigate — but it hasn’t. And the courts, so far, haven’t reigned in Sinclair, either. In other words, the usual checks on power have gone silent. Without making a sound, they’re actually all speaking in unison — just like Sinclair’s TV news anchors.

[Mark Feldstein is the Richard Eaton chair of broadcast journalism at the University of Maryland]


How Sinclair became the most insidious force in local TV news