I have been writing about Sinclair since 1989, when I joined the Sun as television critic. I have seen and reported on a lot of evolutionary change at the company, which was founded in 1986 and went public in 1995, often through the lens of its Baltimore station, WBFF Fox-45. There were times when the station compromised its news product in ways I think no responsible broadcaster should — and, in one case, faced community outrage for it. And there was a time in 2009 when company officials said they might have to seek bankruptcy protection if they could not pay down outstanding debt that was coming due.