Conservative Sinclair Broadcasting forcing affiliates to run video packages favorable to Trump
"According to the New York Times, Sinclair Broadcasting Group — a conservative news network run by GOP donor Daniel Smith — is requiring affiliate stations to run right- wing programming that includes debunked stories favorable to President Donald Trump. With Sinclair’s potential acquisition of Tribute Media Group, concerns that they might exert their allegedly pro-Trump bias over a majority of American news stations is growing. The article claims that Sinclair requires news stations they own to broadcast “must-runs” — news packages created by the network such as one issued by the company’s vice president of news Scott Livingston that decried biased media and positioned themselves as bastions of journalistic objectivity. Stations are reportedly required to broadcast these must-runs within 48 hours of receiving them from the network. Sinclair currently owns 173 stations in many large media markets, and with their purchase of Tribune, they would own 42 more and could then control up to 70 percent of all American broadcast media."
