Sinclair Broadcasting: The Dinosaur in the Room

The Sinclair Broadcast Group currently owns or controls 193 TV stations, the largest of any such company in the United States.  From Baltimore (its home base) to Seattle, it has spread its footprint from coast to coast.

Sinclair stands accused of using its conservative political agenda to shape news coverage at its local stations, airing "must-run" features such as commentaries and updates about terrorism.  Recently, they were criticized for forcing its news anchors to read a standardized statement about "journalistic responsibility", accusing the mainstream media of bias.

Now Sinclair wants to raise its profile even more, with its proposed purchase of Tribune Media awaiting approval by the Federal Communications Commission.  This would bring into the fold iconic Tribune-owned stations like WGN in Chicago, WPIX in New York and KTLA in Los Angeles--all of whose reputations for news coverage would take major hits if the sale went through.  Sinclair has already made some changes to make the sale more palatable to the FCC by offering to divest some stations, but would keep control of them through such tactics as local marketing agreements and shell companies.

(SBG also owns WUCW in Minneapolis-St. Paul.  Because it is a CW network affiliate that does not carry local news, the controversy has yet to resonate in Minnesota.  That could change if the company either puts out its own newscast, or if they made a deal to purchase one of the other network stations in town.)

Local news, no matter who the parent company is, has become less a source of information nowadays.  Its coverage of murders stoke fear of crime in the big city.  They exploit people with special needs.  So-called "feel-good" stories are really infomercials promoting local charities.  Alerting viewers to bad weather that's nowhere near where they are.  Stroking the ego of the President of the United States?  That's Fox News' job, not your local newscast.

Remember all those Sinclair gasoline stations that used to dot the highways and byways of America?  Their mascot (and corporate logo) was a big green dinosaur.  Sinclair Broadcasting doesn't have a mascot that we know of.  But if they did, they'd represent a similar prehistoric creature that flexes its muscles in the dying world of broadcast television, pushing a political agenda on the verge of going extinct.

UPDATE (12/28/19):  The Sinclair-Tribune merger fell through, and once it did, Nexstar Media Group swept in and took over Tribune.  Oh, they had to sell a few stations such as WPIX (to Scripps), but it was relatively smooth sailing on its way to government approval.

Sinclair has also announced that they would no longer air "must-run" political commentaries on its stations, and will instead devote its energies to local investigative reporting.  We'll believe it when we see it.