We all know that the media has been consolidated under fewer and fewer owners. This company, which is about the be approved to go from 40 percent coverage of the public to 70 percent of the public with a large acquisition, is handing out news scripts TOP DOWN for all these TV stations.
@CBS21NEWS anchors Robb Hanrahan and Jasmine Brooks read the same Sinclair script. pic.twitter.com/JJkrn1tqx6
— Rob Tornoe (@RobTornoe) March 30, 2018
.@WJACTV anchor @Jen6News reads from the same Sinclair script. pic.twitter.com/sRBbzhlamW
— Rob Tornoe (@RobTornoe) March 30, 2018
.@fox56wolf anchors Ryan Cummins and @jamesoninnis read from the same Sinclair script. pic.twitter.com/3O7DEs6GsH
— Rob Tornoe (@RobTornoe) March 30, 2018
.@WJACTV anchor @jessicaguaytv was one of several Pennsylvania newscasters forced to read a script about "false news" pushed by the management at Sinclair Broadcast Group. pic.twitter.com/i6GyHYel4Z
— Rob Tornoe (@RobTornoe) March 30, 2018
Several local Pennsylvania newscasts sounded similar this week, as anchors at Sinclair Broadcast Group stations were forced to read from the same script decrying “fake stories” and “biased reporting.”
The script, which anchors at stations across the country were required to read, echoes announcements that aired last year by Scott Livingston, the vice president of news at Sinclair, which accused the national news media of publishing “fake news stories.”
“This promo addresses the troubling trend of false stories on social media, and distinguishes our trusted local stations as news destinations where we are committed to honest and accurate reporting,” Livingston said in a statement to CNN, which had obtained a draft of the script from a memo Sinclair management sent to local stations. “This promo reminds our viewers of this mission.”
Jane Hall, a professor at American University and a former Fox News media critic, didn’t share Livingston’s opinion about the scripts.
“It’s naked in the sense that it’s forcing people in the news to read something that is a corporate piece of propaganda, in my opinion,” Hall said this month on NPR’s Morning Edition, noting that it highlights the idea of “fake news” pushed by President Trump. “[It’s] something that just can’t be seen as anything other than promoting Donald Trump’s view of the rest of the news media.”
This is what happens when one company owns multiple news stations
h/t truspiracy