



It was quite an operation: Bush/Cheney agencies would create reports that looked like news segments, but which were actually just propaganda, carefully crafted to put the Republican administration’s agenda



And some did exactly that. In 2006, the Federal Communications Commission accused stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the nation’s largest owners of local affiliates, as being



Two years earlier, as the New York Times



A decade later, it appears Sinclair is back in the news. Politico One of the under-appreciated scandals of the Bush/Cheney era was the Republican administration’s preferred approach to propaganda. In addition to paying pundits to endorse the then-president’s agenda and paying retired military officers to say they agreed with Bush’s policies, there were the pre-packaged “news” segments created by the administration and then distributed to local television stations.It was quite an operation: Bush/Cheney agencies would create reports that looked like news segments, but which were actually just propaganda, carefully crafted to put the Republican administration’s agenda in a favorable light . Bush’s team hoped local stations, eager for well-produced “news” content, would simply air the pseudo-segments as-is – never disclosing to the public where the videos came from.And some did exactly that. In 2006, the Federal Communications Commission accused stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the nation’s largest owners of local affiliates, as being among the biggest offenders Two years earlier, as the New York Times reported , ABC’s “Nightline” intended to broadcast the names of every member of the armed forces killed in action in Iraq. Many of the Sinclair Broadcast Group’s stations refused to air the program.A decade later, it appears Sinclair is back in the news. Politico reported the other day:

Donald Trump’s campaign struck a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group during the campaign to try and secure better media coverage, his son-in-law Jared Kushner told business executives Friday in Manhattan.



Kushner said the agreement with Sinclair, which owns television stations across the country in many swing states and often packages news for their affiliates to run, gave them more access to Trump and the campaign, according to six people who heard his remarks.



In exchange, Sinclair would broadcast their Trump interviews across the country without commentary, Kushner said. Kushner highlighted that Sinclair, in states like Ohio, reaches a much wider audience – around 250,000 listeners – than networks like CNN, which reach somewhere around 30,000.