They provided a script for this crap, and the stations were required to present it.
See also: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210436367
There was an article in local (Seattle - about as progressive a city as you could imagine!) paper today about how the on-air news staff is NOT happy (but none of them are standing up to their evil overlords):
https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/KOMO-fake-news-Sinclair-promos-12792032.php
--------------------------------------
SeattlePI obtained a copy of the script, which is posted below unedited and in its entirety:
"Hi, I'm(A) ____________, and I'm (B) _________________...
(B) Our greatest responsibility is to serve our Northwest communities. We are extremely proud of the quality, balanced journalism that KOMO News produces.
(A) But we're concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.
(B) More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories... stories that just aren't true, without checking facts first.
(A) Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control 'exactly what people think'...This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.
(B) At KOMO it's our responsibility to pursue and report the truth. We understand Truth is neither politically 'left nor right.' Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.
(A) But we are human and sometimes our reporting might fall short. If you believe our coverage is unfair please reach out to us by going to KOMOnews.com and clicking on CONTENT CONCERNS. We value your comments. We will respond back to you.
(B) We work very hard to seek the truth and strive to be fair, balanced and factual... We consider it our honor, our privilege to responsibly deliver the news every day.
(A) Thank you for watching and we appreciate your feedback"
The claim of balanced reporting is undermined by must-run segments like the one about the "Deep State" that ran during KOMO's 6 p.m. newscast last week. In the March 21 segment, former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka parroted a Trump talking point regarding the existence of a "Deep State" attempting to undermine the U.S. government.
That segment was produced by Sinclair's Kristine Frazao, who before coming to Sinclair was a reporter and anchor for the Russian-government funded news network RT, described as "the Kremlin's propaganda outlet" by the Columbia Journalism Review.
Sinclair also requires stations to run segments from Boris Epshteyn, a Russian-born former Trump adviser who now serves as Sinclair's chief political analyst. Epshteyn recently produced stories with titles like, "Pres. Trump deserves cabinet and staff who support his agenda, yield successes" and "Cable news channels are giving way too much coverage to Stormy Daniels."
Despite the must-runs, Sinclair's conservative tendencies haven't yet affected KOMO's local coverage, according to employees.
"Our day-to-day news judgement and coverage isn't affected at all," one employee told SeattlePI. "What they're making the anchors say, we're not feeling any of that in daily news decisions."
-------------------------------
= new reply since forum marked as read
