Campaign Action
Sinclair Broadcasting Group is allowing an ad by Allied Progress, a liberal consumer watchdog group, to run on four of its affiliate stations—WJLA in DC, KDSM in Des Moines, KOMO in Seattle, and WBFF in Baltimore. But the broadcaster is sandwiching the 30-second spot with 30 seconds of its own messaging—15 seconds before the ad, then 15 seconds after.
The Allied Progress ad (watch it below) begins "What happens when local news isn't local? This." It then shows the chilling Deadspin video compilation in which dozens of local news anchors recite Sinclair's promo, decrying "fake news" and "biased journalists." The ad script continues: "Sinclair owns this station and nearly 200 others. It forced dozens of anchors to recite the same political message, word for word. Now Sinclair is trying to control local news stations in 72 percent of American homes." Using the tag line from the Sinclair promo, the ad concludes by asking viewers to tell the FCC to stop the merger, because it is "extremely dangerous to our Democracy."
Sinclair's message running before the ad, says that "this station […] is proud to present both sides of issues. […] We think the ad is misleading, but wanted to let you decide. Thank you." Following the ad is this message: "The misleading ad you just saw focused on a brief promotional message that simply said we're a source for truthful news. […] It ignored thousands of hours of local news we produce each year to keep you informed. The ad was purchased by a group known for its liberal bias, and we hope you won't buy into the hysteria and hype."
Liberal bias. Hysteria. Hype. No, there's not a conservative political agenda at work at Sinclair, not at all. In a statement to Talking Points Memo when the ad was released, an Allied Progress director explained the point of the ad. "Americans trust local media to deliver objective news about the communities where they live and work, but those watching scores of Sinclair stations around the country last week were instead force-fed politically inspired, anti-media propaganda that should have earned President Trump a writing credit."
The fact that "so many local anchors would have to choose between providing for their families and demonstrating sound journalistic integrity only underscores the importance of stopping Sinclair's stated goal of controlling every local news station in the country," he continued. That and anti-trust laws on the books that would preclude its ownership of so much of the nation's media market.