Sinclair defends itself over uproar after local news anchors read anti-'false news' screed

Mike Snider | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Why Sinclair's 'false news' script sounds so familiar President Trump called Sinclair Broadcasting "superior" after the media giant made anchors at its TV stations across the country say the same script about "false news."

Sinclair Broadcast Group is defending itself against criticism for a recent on-air promotional message many of its local news anchors were asked to read that warned viewers about "false news" on competing media outlets.

Dozens of stations belonging to the nation's largest broadcaster have aired video promotions in the past few weeks in which their local on-air news hosts voice concerns about "the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country." The anchors then go on to say that many media outlets are publishing "fake stories" and pushing agendas.

The promotion looks unique in each market, but Sinclair's corporate Hunt Valley, Md.-headquarters scripted and distributed it to its stations. After a video showing overlapping clips of anchors reciting the same script went viral, Democratic lawmakers and media critics condemned the company for thinly veiled editorializing that, they said, promoted President Trump's attacks on the news media.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, tweeted Monday: "Local news stations now required by Sinclair Broadcasting to parrot the talking points of the President, moving America one step closer to its own version of state run media. And another freedom is assailed under this Administration."



Local news stations now required by Sinclair Broadcasting to parrot the talking points of the President, moving America one step closer to its own version of state run media. And another freedom is assailed under this Administration. https://t.co/LwBnqdhM3b — Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 2, 2018

In Kentucky, Amy McGrath, a Democratic candidate for the state's sixth congressional district, tweeted she was pulling campaign ads from the Lexington, Ky., Sinclair-owned station and would ask other Democratic congressional candidates to refuse to buy campaign advertising from Sinclair stations. The "right-wing script," she said on Twitter, "eerily mimics the propaganda efforts that authoritarian regimes often use to control the media in their own country."

If you're not following this story, see the following link from Deadspin ​that ​edited dozens of ​local news anchors ​from ​across the country read​ing​ the same ​Sinclair-mandated ​script​ last week​https://t.co/6EqvEeBCgm

I've just put out the following statement to the media: pic.twitter.com/qJ4245BvpY — Amy McGrath (@AmyMcGrathKY) April 2, 2018

And in Cincinnati, City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld tweeted that he will no longer watch local Channel 12 after seeing the local anchors — and others across the country — reading the same script. “Creepy, cult-ish, and way too propagandistic for my taste,” the Democrat said in a tweet Sunday.

Nick Clooney, a former anchor on that channel, said if he still worked there, he would not have joined the anchors across the country in reading an identical script attacking other outlets for producing “biased and false news." Clooney, who is father of actor George Clooney, added: "I have no idea what these folks are doing for a living, but it isn’t news."

This national message from Sinclair comes as regulators are considering whether to approve its nearly $4 billion deal to acquire Tribune Media Co. The acquisition, announced in May 2017, would increase Sinclair's number of TV stations from 193 to 220 or more — and its reach of U.S. homes to 72%.

Critics of the merger say this national scripted promotion offers a hint at how an even-larger Sinclair could spread conservative-leaning messages across the largest-ever collection of local media outlets.

Awareness about the promotions has grown in the past few days after sports news site Deadspin edited together a video of dozens of local Sinclair station broadcasts echoing one another. The site posted it on Twitter — it had more than 7 million views midday Monday — and its other social media pages Saturday and saw it replayed on HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Sunday. Non-profit progressive news group ThinkProgress also put together its own video and posted it on its YouTube page.

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

Sinclair says it produced the spots to express concern about the spread of such false media reports such as the "Pope Endorses Trump" fake news story and the "Pizzagate" conspiracy story, both of which emerged just before the 2016 presidential election and can have "potentially dangerous consequences, said Scott Livingston, Sinclair's senior vice president of news, in a statement sent to USA TODAY.

“It is ironic that we would be attacked for messages promoting our journalistic initiative for fair and objective reporting, and for specifically asking the public to hold our newsrooms accountable," he said. "Our local stations keep our audiences’ trust by staying focused on fact-based reporting and clearly identifying commentary.”

Trump defended Sinclair on Twitter on Monday, adding to critics' complaints that the TV company was acting as his proxy. "So funny to watch Fake News Networks ... criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased," he tweeted. "Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke."

Last month, anchors told CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, who broke the story about the planned Sinclair promotion, their concerns in recording the promos. "I felt like a POW recording a message," one of the anchors told the Reliable Sources host.

In a follow-up story Monday on CNN.com, Stelter noted how the viral video ignited the issue and quoted another Sinclair journalist, an investigative reporter, who said, "It sickens me the way this company is encroaching upon trusted news brands in rural markets."

In the Sinclair script, which Stelter obtained and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer posted Friday, local anchors begin the video segment stating their pride in "the quality, balanced journalism that (their station) produces."

Then, the anchor or anchors expound on how "the sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media," and that many media outlets are "publishing these same fake stories without checking facts first," the script says. It goes on to warn that some media are pushing "their own personal bias and agenda to control 'exactly what people think' ... This is extremely dangerous to our democracy."

Many liberals have called out Sinclair for the same behavior that these promotions decry. The company got some attention in April for hiring Boris Epshteyn, a special assistant to President Trump, as a chief political analyst. His "Bottom Line with Boris" commentary segments, which appear across Sinclair's network of stations, are often attacked as misinformation that touts a pro-Trump agenda.

Sinclair has been criticized in the past for giving favorable coverage to then-Republican presidential candidate Trump. The broadcaster has said in the past that it offered similar coverage opportunities to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Democrats have also chided FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Trump-appointed Republican, for supporting TV ownership rule changes that would make it easier for the merger to pass regulatory scrutiny. After their requests, the FCC inspector general began an investigation into whether Pai has acted inappropriately in assisting Sinclair.

"Sinclair is now well-known for its history of abusing public trust to air right-wing spin and promote xenophobia on local news shows," says a statement from liberal media activist group Media Matters for America. The group says it found at least 66 Sinclair stations reaching 29 states and the District of Columbia that have broadcast their own versions of the scripted segment.

The merger, the group says, "will help it spread its conservative propaganda further across the country."

In July 2017, Oliver blasted the broadcaster's conservative-leaning practices and its "must-run" video segments made for local stations. After running the Deadspin video on Sunday's show — you can watch it on YouTube — the host commented: “Yeah. Nothing says ‘We value independent media’ like dozens of reporters forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult."

Ex-CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather offered a similar observation on Twitter, too. "News anchors looking into camera and reading a script handed down by a corporate overlord, words meant to obscure the truth not elucidate it, isn't journalism. It's propaganda. It's Orwellian," he tweeted. "A slippery slope to how despots wrest power, silence dissent, and oppress the masses."

News anchors looking into camera and reading a script handed down by a corporate overlord, words meant to obscure the truth not elucidate it, isn't journalism. It's propaganda. It's Orwellian. A slippery slope to how despots wrest power, silence dissent, and oppress the masses. — Dan Rather (@DanRather) April 2, 2018

Contributing: Scott Wartman at The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.