It used to be that your local station would run editorials taking positions on this or that subject, and occasionally they would let someone with with a contrary opinion take a few minutes of prime on-air time to give their side of the story.
If your local areas has a station that belongs to The Sinclair Broadcast Group you are probably subjected to far-right editorials a couple times a week by Boris Epshetyn, “star” of Bottom Line With Boris. Do you know I say “probably subjected” instead "probably selected if your local Sinclair station swings to the right? It’s because Sinclair stations, no matter which way they swing politically, have to Boris’ little spiel, without commentary or opposing opinion… You can read about Sinclair’s quest to usurp Fox in here.
Have you seen any of the Bottom Line With Boris pieces? What is your opinion of them?
I haven’t seen him other than in clips but heard about it in the context of Sinclair backing Trump and in return getting favorable decisions from the Trump FCC helping it expand.
Wasn’t he that loudmouth liar with a British accent who used to be a WH spokesman before he was (predictably) fired?
No, this is someone different. Here is a sample of one of his spewings that the stations previously listed are required to air without commentary or opposition.
Dude has a whopping 98 subscribers on Youtube. I could probably beat that in a couple of weeks.
You can’t beat guaranteed access to over 190 different television stations several times a week. The problem is that, even if you could convince a station that they should give the public a chance to air an opposing viewpoint, you would on average reach only 1/190 of the audience Boris’ message reached.
Why can’t there be a white knight like George Soros come in and buy up these stations and deny this pinhead the opportunity to push propaganda?
You can’t buy what isn’t for sale.
I have read articles and talked about these Sinclair bozos (and their affiliated Circa website) here, but I haven’t yet had the displeasure to stumble upon any of their TV channels. But the channel I did stumble upon the other day on DirecTV was the OAN (One America News Network) channel, and from just a brief viewing, I find it difficult to believe that the Sinclair bozos can hold a candle to those OAN clowns. It’s right next to the NewsMax channel… :smack:
P.S. Here’s WaPo’s take.
Two [URL=“http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/local-news-anchors-now-have-to-read-pro-trump-propaganda.html”]more recent articles about how Sinclair holds its stations hostage, telling them what to say(do NOT deviate from the script), when to say it(they must be aired during news time, not commercial time, cutting the time to deliver local news drastically), and how to dress while saying it. They are even told that if the public responds to the local newsies as to what is happening, the Sinclair Group will answer on their behalf.
I see that Sinclair doesn’t seem to own any stations in the San Francisco or Los Angeles markets. Good thing for them. I can’t imagine the reaction if a local TV station here broadcast a piece of Trump propaganda, but it wouldn’t be good.
They have the ABC affiliate here in progressive Seattle. Mostly we just feel sorry for the people who work there, assuming that almost all of them would rather not do the Sinclair must-airs.
For the right price, everything is for sale. Sinclair may love its soapbox, but they might love money even more.
Best quote award actually goes to one of the comments under the article:
I don’t know if the can still get away with it but at least for a time, the Seattle station was running the corporate office propaganda at 4AM…
Normally, yes, but this is what the guy who runs Sinclair wants to spend his money on. This isn’t a business move - he is evangelizing to the masses.
(Bumping a linked thread) I’ve heard that a lot of stations are doing this on purpose. It has to air sometime; why not at a time when very few people are watching?
Deadspin is my new favorite website. 
That used to be the case-now they are being told when to air the segments. BTW, complaining to the local stations and/or their newsreader personally will do no good because they have been ordered to forward all such correspondence to The Sinclair Group so that an official response can be given.
Yeah, that’s not ominous at all.