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Sinclair Made Dozens of Local News Anchors Recite the Same Script

nytimes.com

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

#91

Post by thaumaturgy »

WhompingWindows wrote: post #73

In my eyes, this is a clear set/spike play. A huge corporation, enabled by their corrupt allies in the FCC, buy up hundreds of "local" stations. They then use the local cred/reputation of these stations to suggest that fake news is rampant on other sources (not controlled by Sinclair). They then tilt the dialogue nation-wide. Meanwhile, the average citizen is unaware that their trusted local anchor is bought/sold, th…

Oh, it's more overt than that.

Ajit Pai has been rolling back FCC regulations preventing Sinclair from massively expanding its media empire. In exchange, with Pai acting as a go-between for Trump and Sinclair, Sinclair promised Trump that he'd get better media coverage. [1]

Reddit had a large thread about this video over the weekend. Most of the comments were the usual garbage, but there was some good stuff in there: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/88ll08/this_is_what...

[1]: https://gist.github.com/shakna-israel/a5df6c9c70ccfce3ad3c27...

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

#92

Post by tangent128 »

pdx wrote: post #64
steamer25 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's ironic (cue pedants) because they're denouncing one-sided presentations that advance a particular agenda while using a facade of ostensibly independent-minded locals that are actually mouthpieces for their remote overlords. It betrays that their indignation isn't so much over dangers to democracy as it is their loosening grip on the ability to frame the discussion of any given day. https://youtu.be/TRBppdC1h_Y h…

Except they're not "mouth pieces". Local journalists are much more independent than national ones. This instance by Sinclair of attempting to combat the national news broadcasters was a David vs Goliath attempt, and they are coming out of it much worse than David did.

"Independence" is incompatible with "being forced by corporate to grant your credibilty to their talking points".

You can't say Sinclair is "combating the national news broadcasters"; they themselves are a national news broadcaster. They just happen to like branding themselves with local faces.

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

#94

Post by analogmemory »

Last Week Tonight (John Oliver) dove into this last year. It's really frustrating that they can leverage so much political sway under the cover of "news reporting". Then forcing news stations to broadcast this garbage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtNyOzGogc

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

#95

Post by meri_dian »

nitrogen wrote: post #88
meri_dian wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that any different from major news organizations like CNN with a national reach clearly pushing biased anti-Trump news constantly? It's funny: Trump attacks CNN for being fake, biased news, then CNN responds by focusing all of their negative reporting on Trump, becoming exactly what Trump says they are. People would have had much more respect for CNN if they had stuck to the middle path in the face of Trump's…

Instead of derailing with "you too", can we focus on one thing at a time? National news programs are a separate issue from secretly biased local news.

CNN doesn't stand up and say "we're devoting our reporting resources to all things anti Trump, this is our bias, it's not secret". They simply report the news they choose to report.

Just like Sinclair.

People watch the news hoping to get an accurate depiction of reality. When only one side of a multifaceted situation is reported on, the depiction becomes distorted.

It's never OK to do this, regardless of whose side you're on.

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

#96

Post by macintux »

rhapsodic wrote: post #93

Those news anchors were either OK with the contents of the script they were ordered to read, or they were gutless cowards for not resigning or allowing themselves to be fired.

The journalism job market ain't what it used to be. I find it hard to label people trying to keep their family fed and housed as "gutless cowards."

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

#97

Post by bradleyankrom »

robotrout wrote: post #83
thaumaturgy wrote: post #80

Trump recently took DACA off the negotiating table, announcing it in a tweet, citing a Fox News & Friends segment on 'caravans' of inbound immigrants: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration/trump-say... The President is watching this same garbage and making policy decisions based on it. Let that sink in for a moment.

If you watched the state of the union, you know that Trump made a proposal about DACA that was such a huge compromise to the left, that much of his base raised hell. The left refused that compromise, and refused again, when he asked for DACA and the wall to be addressed in the latest spending bill. Since he has twice been rebuffed on his compromises, he's going the other way. That seems reasonable to me.

I don't think very many left-of-center people would agree with your assertion that it was a "huge" compromise. They wanted tens of billions of dollars for a symbolic wall, closing of several legal immigration processes, etc. There are several DACA fixes sitting in congress but Republican leadership refuses to bring any of them up for a vote.

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

#98

Post by mintplant »

robotrout wrote: post #79
mschuster91 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Old people [...] vote at higher rates than any other demographic group. Now that one is bound to change. Young people, both in the US and abroad, are discovering the powers of social media and organize to advance their causes. Trump with his backwards, racist and misogynistic rhetoric and his politics mostly serving the old, white, male population provides a perfect enemy figure to rally against. Somewhere on Reddi…

I would flag your post if I could. Your provocative statements are not productive and are off-topic. You are obviously some sort of activist. This is not the place for it. From your bio: " You call it "alt-left", I proudly call it "Antifa".

I imagine this is why you lost your flagging power, then. "You are obviously some sort of activist" is not a valid justification for removing someone from the discourse.

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

#99

Post by macintux »

wu-ikkyu wrote: post #67
maxerickson wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

National anchors clearly have a boss that they listen to, but they also pretty clearly have a pretty large amount of editorial control over their shows.

>they also pretty clearly have a pretty large amount of editorial control over their shows. The case of Phil Donahue indicates otherwise.

Which, again: Phil Donahue was not a news anchor.

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

#100

Post by losteric »

robotrout wrote: post #50
losteric wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many of us have been pounding this drum for a long time, including Trump himself. Can you cite that? It sounds like prime material for Reddit's /r/TrumpCriticizesTrump/

Cite it? Fake News has been his mantra for awhile. I think you'll find it.

I don't see how "fake news" relates to media monopolization. It's just a fallacious outright rejection of unpleasant news.

In fact, Trump just stated he supports Sinclair's monopolization.

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