Sinclair Taps Out

[RPM 26227]

Sinclair drops Boris Epshteyn and other political analysts

Sinclair, which owns 193 stations in the U.S., said it wants to focus on local news and investigative journalism.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is axing the "must-run" segments of one of its biggest stars, Boris Epshteyn, the network's chief political analyst and a former special assistant to President Donald Trump. The move is part of a companywide effort to move away from political commentary in favor of investigative journalism, the network said Wednesday.

“We have to shine a light on our value proposition every quarter hour, in every newscast," the company said in a statement to its staff. "Therefore, we will be expanding our local investigative journalism footprint in our daily newscasts. We are excited to dedicate more time in our newscasts to report on critical and relevant issues.”

“To allot additional airtime for this storytelling, we will be ending the commentary segments this Friday, Dec. 13, featuring Ameshia Cross, and Boris Epshteyn,” the memo continued.

Epshteyn’s political commentary, which ran across all 193 stations as part of a Sinclair corporate mandate, has been widely criticized. In a piece last year about immigration on the Southern border, Epshteyn used the word "invasion" to describe the influx of migrants. Sinclair was forced to post a tweet that the viewpoint did not represent the company’s views and that it is "committed to fair, unbiased journalism across our stations nationwide."

"Boris will be moving into a sales-focused role with the company," a source familiar with the situation told NBC News on Wednesday.

Epshteyn tweeted about the decision saying he's "thankful" to be part of Sinclair and is looking "forward to continuing to work with this great company."

Cross, who worked on President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, was hired in January to provide balance on the airwaves.

A former Sinclair producer who was granted anonymity for competitive reasons, told NBC News that the change frees up producers to focus on news.

"It was irresponsible and antithetical to what we were supposed to be doing as journalists.” the former Sinclair producer said. “It is surprising, but for the most part, I think our viewers were able to see commentary for what it was.”

[cactusflinthead 27594]

Hmm. I wonder if they were getting some pushback from the locals. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

Literally a Russian named Boris was running Trump propaganda to US domestic audiences. 

[RPM 26227]

Just now, cactusflinthead said:

Hmm. I wonder if they were getting some pushback from the locals. 

When ad revenue drops, you change formats.

[cactusflinthead 27594]

That's what I was wondering. Local news has got to deal with their own. If they don't want to advertise because they keep running a shithead out there, it's bad business. 

"Boris, you want to talk, go sell some ads for it. Otherwise you can shut up."

[Blotto 23434]

1 hour ago, RPM said:

"Therefore, we will be expanding our local investigative journalism footprint in our daily newscasts. We are excited to dedicate more time in our newscasts to report on critical and relevant issues.”

I take it we'll  finally get resolution on the Clinton body count, Obama's birth certificate, and Omar's brother-husband.

[bad_teammate 13132]

Breaking news tonight on NBC-12, Duluth's most trusted news source, as Sheriff Clayborne helps cut the ribbon at the opening of the new learning annex and our own on-the-ground reporting has discovered exactly which breed of dog former President Obama likes to eat the most. Stay tuned.

[WhatTheBuck 28711]

Link didn't show up. 

[Biff Tannen 45494]

I have to think John Oliver had something to do with people's awareness of Sinclair.  Bravo.

[Brisketexan 104605]

It's a little thing, but I'm old enough that I still watch the evening news with some regularity, or at least have it on in the background as I'm shutting down for the evening.  KEYE is Sinclair-owned, so I never have it on.  

Fuck 'em.  They'll still take any revenue they make off of extra eyeballs and support Trump.  They still won't get my support, I hope they fucking go bankrupt.

[Dnaguy 11775]

Local TV news is good for major storm events.

 

Outside of that, I don’t watch. 

I prefer to be ignorant of all the crime going on as 1.) Statistically we’ve never been safer and 2.) What can I really do about it other than not go to those neighborhoods?

I mean, I already know the places I don’t need to be in and I make it a habit to never go there.

[elfenix 34171]

2 hours ago, bad_teammate said:

Breaking news tonight on NBC-12, Duluth's most trusted news source, as Sheriff Clayborne helps cut the ribbon at the opening of the new learning annex and our own on-the-ground reporting has discovered exactly which breed of dog former President Obama likes to eat the most. Stay tuned.

no shit. those of you thinking this is a tap out, it isn't.  they're just not going to be running national obvious propaganda anymore.  instead it'll be localized hit pieces that will be harder to discern from actual news. 

[Pig Bellmont 8691]

“Uh sorry about running propaganda and intentionally having it disguised as ‘news’ targeted to an aging demographic that can’t tell the difference. This is in no way because we anticipate a democratic Congress and President who may pass laws affecting our license or ownership of news stations based on our ability to mandate manipulative content.”

[Jive Turkey 12568]

 

[formermav43 4599]

15 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Literally a Russian named Boris was running Trump propaganda to US domestic audiences. 

And he’s a Jew! Conspiracy theorists unite!

[Brisketexan 104605]

3 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

And he’s a Jew! Conspiracy theorists unite!

[Biff Tannen 45494]

^^^the fuck is that

[kevwun 15647]

Roy Moore and his wife took great pride in having an attorney that was Jewish during the tail end of his senate run.

Edited December 12, 2019 by kevwun

[elfenix 34171]

3 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Roy Moore and his wife took great pride in having an attorney that was Jewish during the tail end of his senate run.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/01/05/roy-moores-real-jewish-lawyer-is-a-liberty-university-grad-who-has-accepted-christ/

[Tuco 5076]

My guess is that Sinclair's attorneys started looking at their exposure for FARA charges. Russia Today, Sputnik, and CTGN (Chinese) were pressured into registering as foreign agents.  With the enhanced focus on FARA, I bet that Sinclair looked at itself and realized that requiring locals to run segments featuring Boris was perhaps problematic.  They may have no real issues, but figured it was best to just avoid the potential for them. 

[Chuckie Finster 22600]

3 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

I have to think John Oliver had something to do with people's awareness of Sinclair.  Bravo.

I can certainly say he did for me.

[High Plains Drifter 10976]

1 hour ago, Pig Bellmont said:

“Uh sorry about running propaganda and intentionally having it disguised as ‘news’ targeted to an aging demographic that can’t tell the difference. This is in no way because we anticipate a democratic Congress and President who may pass laws affecting our license or ownership of news stations based on our ability to mandate manipulative content.”

 

You sweet summer child. Even if the dems take the senate and the presidency and keep the house, they wouldn't have the sack or ability to do something like that.

[tantric superman 4667]

43 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Roy Moore and his wife took great pride in having an attorney that was Jewish during the tail end of his senate run.

Rabinowitz, Rabinowitz and Rabinowitz -- seven savage jews that won't leave a scrap on your bones.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

With the shuttering of schools of journalism at several unis, I miss the abundance of old school investigative reporting. The click-driven, check sources later, Wild Wild West of the Internet News is problematic for discovering the truth-truth and not Newspeak. Not helped, of course, by various entities that want to keep it that way. It's still out there, but for the uninitiated, you have to sort it out and most folks do not take the time.

In smaller cities, most news staff don't really have reporters like that anymore. I'm not sure towns the size of Huntsville, Bryan/College Station do, which they should since they have a number of government institutions that need to have some watchdogs around.

One of my children has a former classmate who graduated with a journalism degree and now works as an investigative reporter for a major newspaper here in Texas. Lovely person, bright, driven, and I worry will have a tough road ahead. However, her ethics are rock solid and that gives me hope.

[NameAlreadyInUse 5106]

16 hours ago, cactusflinthead said:

Hmm. I wonder if they were getting some pushback from the locals. 

I know the first time I happened to be watching the local news and that shit came on I wrote my local news channel a strongly worded letter and have never again turned them on.  Its one thing to be conservative, its another to just fucking lie. How can I trust anything else when I see that?  Also, I try not to give money to liars, even indirectly.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

Sinclair stating that their focus would be on "investigative journalism" needs to be changed to Sinclair's focus is on increasing their propaganda coverage to compete with other right wing propaganda stations.

[atomheartbevo 89428]

I'm surprised Sinclair hasn't bought OAN.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13412]

Sinclair stock skyrocketed this year but ultimately tanked so it’s extremely underperforming the market. Is there an acknowledged reason why their stock is dropping?