Local TV Required to Air Pro-Trump Propaganda

Sinclair Broadcast Group owns more local TV stations than any other company in America. The Sinclair owners are conservative, which is fine. Everybody is allowed to have their own personal political preferences. What makes Sinclair different is that they require their stations that cover local news to include mandated, conservative commentary. For instance, all Sinclair news stations are required to run regular commentary from a former Trump adviser named Boris Epshteyn (he's the guy who crafted Trump's Holocaust Remembrance speech that famously didn't acknowledge the Jewish people).

Sinclair's mandated conservative positions are long-standing. From requiring stations to run anti-John Kerry ads during the 2004 elections to running editorials about "snowflake social justice warrior" students, Sinclair was the focus of a piece John Oliver did a year ago.

Well, last week Sinclair required anchors from their stations to read an anti-Fake News statement. Except it doesn't address "fake news" in the original sense of the word: lurid stories with no basis in fact, like the "Pizza-Gate" story or the "DNC staffer Seth Rich was bumped off by Hillary".
Sinclair's version of "fake news" is the Trump definition: any coverage that isn't glowing about Trump. Sinclair owned stations in our markets include KDBC and KFOX in El Paso, KTXE in San Angelo and KTXS and KTES in Abilene.

Here's a collection of local anchors reading their corporate-mandated statements because, as John Oliver says, "Nothing says 'we value independent media' like dozens of reporters forced to read the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult".

Actually, some of these people in the following video don't seem so much like "brainwashed cult members" but more like "kidnap victims forced to make a proof-of-life video".

And, here's a follow-up from John Oliver's show last night.