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4/02/2018 5:27 am  #1


Sinclair Made Dozens of Local News Anchors Recite the Same Script

Why Sinclair Made Dozens of Local News Anchors Recite the Same Script


On local news stations across the United States last month, dozens of anchors gave the same speech to their combined millions of viewers.

It included a warning about fake news, a promise to report fairly and accurately and a request that viewers go to the station’s website and comment “if you believe our coverage is unfair.”

It may not have seemed strange until viewers began to notice that the newscasters from Seattle to Phoenix to Washington sounded very similar. Stitched-together videos on social media showed them eerily echoing the same lines:

“The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.”

“Some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias.”

“This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.”





The script came from Sinclair Broadcast Group, the country’s largest broadcaster, which owns or operates 193 television stations.

Last week, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published a copy of the speech and reported that employees at a local news station there, KOMO, were unhappy about the script. CNN reported on it on March 7 and said Scott Livingston, the senior vice president of news for Sinclair, had read almost the exact same speech for a segment that was distributed to outlets a year ago.

A union that represents news anchors did not respond immediately to requests for comment on Sunday.

Dave Twedell of the International Cinematographers Guild, who is a business representative for photojournalists (but not anchors) at KOMO in Seattle and KATU in Portland, Ore., said Sinclair told journalists at those stations not to discuss the company with outside news media.

Although it is the country’s largest broadcaster, Sinclair is not a household name and viewers may be unaware of who owns their local news station. Critics have accused the company of using its stations to advance a mostly right-leaning agenda.

“We work very hard to be objective and fair and be in the middle,” Mr. Livingston told The New York Times last year. “I think maybe some other news organizations may be to the left of center, and we work very hard to be in the center.”

Sinclair regularly sends video segments to the stations it owns. These are referred to as “must-runs,” and they can include content like terrorism news updates, commentators speaking in support of President Trump or speeches from company executives like the one from Mr. Livingston last year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/business/media/sinclair-news-anchors-script.html


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

4/02/2018 6:45 am  #2


Re: Sinclair Made Dozens of Local News Anchors Recite the Same Script

Now, REPEAT AFTER ME ! 


 


"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
 
 

4/02/2018 5:02 pm  #3


Re: Sinclair Made Dozens of Local News Anchors Recite the Same Script

May I refer you to #6 and #13 of the Fourteen Characteristics of Fascism:

 #6  -  Controlled Mass Media:  Media is sometimes controlled by sympathetic spokespeople and executives.

# 13 - Rampant Cronyism and Corruption:  Fascist regimes are almost always governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to governmental positions of power and authority to protect each other from accountability.

 

 

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