Sinclair Broadcasting: All the News That Isn't

quotWhat I tell you three times is truequot The Bellman39s announcement opening The Hunting of the Snark previews the nonsense to come in Lewis Carroll39s classic comic poem about the search for a mythical beast Sinclair Broadcasting might want to consider the line as the motto for its fiction factory producing the farright fantasies its stations are forced to broadcast as newsSinclair owns 185 Fox NBC and ABC local TV stations among others as well as multicast and sports networks in 100 markets across the country It39s an impressive reach into 40 percent of America39s households But Sinclair39s size isn39t the issue Combined with a rightwing spin on the national news its penchant for pushing unsubstantiated stories from stolen elections and marauding migrants to Deep State conspiracies to its TV outlets isSinclair39s propaganda model would make Joe Stalin or for that matter Vladimir Putin his 21st Century fanboy smile Housed at its headquarters the National Desk produces and distributes hundreds of stories a month For the local anchors that receive the copy they39re must reads Unfortunately the eamp64256ect isn39t just displacing real news with agitprop though that39s bad enough It39s poisoning the democratic process as wellTwo political scientists at Stanford and Emory universities who studied Sinclair in 2019 when they researched the relation between local news and national politics put it this way quotThe rightward shift in content at Sinclair acquired stations canamp8230be expected to have real consequences for election outcomes and mass polarizationquot A halfdecade later an analytical gem by independent journalists writing last week on Substackcom underscores the professors39 pointPublished on Substack39s Popular Information the article by Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby exposes in detail the shoddy work produced by Sinclair39s propaganda millThe authors examine Sinclair39s quotRapid Response Teamquot a source on its National Desk of the required copy sent to its local stations Their article documents the corporate unit39s proRepublican bias as well as multiple cockamamie claims in its news stories ground out by the hundreds monthly and dispatched for mandatory airTake Sinclair39s coverage of Donald Trump39s bully boy blather at the annual conference of the National Association of Black Journalists last week Sinclair39s story is striking for its omissions it faithfully recounts Trump39s risible lines attacking his questioners and whining about his mistreatment but omits any of the questions he dodged the facts they presented or the hoots from the audience his nonsensical answers provoked Headlined by Trump39s claim that he39s been the best president for Blacks since Abe Lincoln the socalled news piece would have done Josef Goebbels proudBut the media giant39s influence over what its TV news audiences see and know or don39t isn39t only because of the quality of its agitprop It39s magnified by a business model a slashandburn costcutting approach at its stations that has reduced local political news coverage and the independent insights that such journalism can bring Sinclair39s local reductions in force and their impact on grass roots reporting of course aren39t the only downsizing underway News deserts are growing as traditional newspapers continue to disappear at an alarming rate coasttocoastVanishing dailies aren39t new or unfortunately news According to Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism39s State of Local News Project last year 25 newspapers on average shut their doors each week Of the 3143 counties in the United States over half have either no local news source or only one remaining outlet typically a weekly newspaper Digital startups are bucking the trend but most serve metropolitan areas leaving news voids across the rural and smalltown landscape that Sinclair39s television outlets serveThe coincidence of Sinclair Broadcasting39s national footprint in rural areas and small towns and the growing news deserts outside major metropolitan areas is hard to missTo be sure news consumers have a choice of networks and stations but Sinclair39s reach obviously ups its potential for political influence across rural and smalltown America big time Research by the Pew Center shows why Even though Americans increasingly prefer to get local news online television remains the goto source for 32 percent of local news consumers Twothirds of those who cite TV as their local news source also say they watch their chosen outlets39 daily news programming rather than seeking out local stations39 stories onlineIn 2024 there is admittedly a pearlclutching quality to analysis that suggests partisan news coverage needs attention Public opinion surveys as well as election polling adds evidence daily that voters have wedded themselves not only to their candidates of choice but also the news outlets that reinforce their own political viewsBut the map below that reflects how the last presidential election turned out isn39t just about the location of red and blue political real estate Alongside Sinclair Broadcasting39s reach and journalistic practices it39s about de facto information monopolies and their eamp64256ect on what people understand the facts as well as the issues and what they mean for their choicesquotPropaganda doesn39t deceive people It merely helps people deceive themselvesquot the philosopher Eric Hoamp64256er wrote 70 years ago That said it certainly helps the selfdelusion along if the agitprop is all you can get when you tune in the six o39clock newsThis article was originally published at SubstackClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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Sinclair Broadcasting: All the News That Isn't

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Kent M. Harrington

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