The controversy over anchors at local TV stations owned by Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group appearing in Sinclair-scripted promotional spots criticizing other media outlets for spreading "false and biased news" shows no signs of calming down.

In Portland, the Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate KATU-TV aired the spots, in which anchors Steve Dunn, Debora Knapp, Brian Wood and Angelica Thornton appeared.

Many Portlanders have reacted with concern over the Sinclair Broadcast Group's policy of forcing its stations carry content that has been criticized as right-wing, including commentaries by Boris Epshteyn, a former aide to president Donald Trump.

A #BoycottSinclair campaign on Twitter has been gathering steam in recent days, as Twitter users request KATU advertisers pull their commercials from the station.

Thursday morning, @AdvantisCU, the Twitter account for Advantis Credit Union, posted this: "We have considered the concerns expressed by our members and have chosen to pull our advertising from KATU, the local Sinclair Broadcast Group station."

We have considered the concerns expressed by our members and have chosen to pull our advertising from KATU, the local Sinclair Broadcast Group station. — Advantis CU (@AdvantisCU) April 4, 2018

We have left a message trying to confirm that Advantis has pulled its ads, and will update when we hear back.

On its website, Advantis Credit Union is described as a not-for-profit financial cooperative, and Oregon's fifth largest credit union, with more than 73,000 members.

On April 3, the Twitter account associated with Wilsonville Subaru also tweeted that the company had requested removal of its ads from KATU. When we called to confirm, a spokesman said the company had no comment.

As we shared this morning, Wilsonville Subaru has requested removal of our ads from this station. We understand it can take a couple of days to be removed from rotation so our concerned customers can expect to see these results by April 5th. — Wilsonville Subaru (@WilsonvSubaru) April 3, 2018

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist