Here is what I wrote about Sinclair Broadcasting in my book Front Row Seat at the Circus three years ago, and the concern, as we have learned recently, has only grown:
“When it comes to local news, Sinclair Broadcast Group has spent nearly $3 billion over the past few years and now owns 162 television stations in seventy-nine markets. That’s about 40 percent of all local television stations across America, including some in key presidential battleground states.
Think of that for a second. One ownership group now runs four in ten local news stations, including some key markets in swing states where the presidency is decided.
Sinclair is run by the Smith family, who have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and conservative causes through the years. And their obvious lean to the right shows up in local news products.
Before the 2012 election, Sinclair stations in Ohio and other battlegrounds aired a corporate-produced “news special” featuring partisan criticism against President Obama. The “news special” preempted World News with Diane Sawyer in Columbus during a critical ratings period. Main anchor Yolanda Harris later tweeted “I had no choice” and “I need my job” in answering criticism for reading copy written by Sinclair executives.
Before the tightly contested 2004 presidential election, Sinclair executives had considered airing a documentary attacking John Kerry’s military record. They backed down only after threats of an advertiser’s boycott. Sinclair’s affiliates across the country have broadcast regular “town hall” infomercials produced by conservative strategist Armstrong Williams and featuring Dr. Ben Carson, a conservative who officially announced his 2016 presidential bid on Sinclair stations.
Sinclair also provides a Washington, D.C.-based conservative commentator for their local affiliates to use in their regular newscasts. Former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who I’ll discuss later, hosts a Sunday morning “mini-Fox News” investigative political show for Sinclair-owned affiliates.
Charles Lewis, the founder of the investigative Center for Public Integrity, said about Sinclair employees, “They are stuck with an idiosyncratic owner with its own political views and agenda. It’s a nightmarish scenario for journalists.”
So the right-leaning Sinclair is now a dominant player in local news. Those on the left who remain quiet when it comes ownership groups like Sinclair remind me of the story of the frog placed in a pot of cold water on the stove as the temperature is slowly raised. Will it be too late when they finally notice they are boiling?”
–Jim Heath, Front Row Seat at the Circus