ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.
“The best way for evil to triumph is for all good men to do nothing.” — Sir Edmund Burke
In my 45 years in community journalism, I have never seen anything so disgusting and threatening to our so-called republic as the Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s mandatory statement on local broadcast stations they own.
WWMT-TV, Channel 3, Kalamazoo, recently was purchased by Sinclair, which many friends in this business warned me is even more controlling than Fox News. I was told, even before it happened, that Channel 3 would start having “Terror Alert” features every day and a sort of “Moneywatch” portion added to the program.
What alarmed me more was after a friend sent me a copy of the prepared Sinclair statement forced to be read by those who deliver local broadcast news. Then I saw four members of the Channel 3 news team deliver it word for word. They were told they had to read it on the air, prompting one anonymous newsperson to remark that it felt like a POW reading a phony statement prepared by captors.
We have now sunk so low that we are being force fed news by a corporate entity that decides just what we can and can’t see and hear. If there ever was a line between independent presentation of news in a republic, it has been blurred considerably.
To be sure. there has been a decline over the years in quality of broadcast, print and on-line news. Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, Edward R. Murrow and their ilk were people we could trust to tell us what was happening without so much bias and bullshit we see and hear today, which is heavy on public relations
Since those bygone days we’ve witnessed the corporate takeover of the major broadcast networks. ABC is owned by Disney. CBS is owned by Viacom. NBC is owned by General Electric. CNN is owned by Time-Warner. And Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
This is why I’ve laughed off contentions by Ranger Rick, Army Bob and Free Market Man that the media is liberal. Corporations are not liberal. When they call the shots, when they own the joint, the “liberal” deliverers of the news are required to toe the corporate line. So much for a free and independent press.
We’ve been living in this fairy tale that told us we have a free and independent press that serves as a watchdog on government. It does to a small degree, but it rolls over for corporations and businesses because they pay the bills. For example, don’t expect to see negative stories about Disney on ABC. And how much attention has Fox paid to the Russia investigation and Stormy Daniels allegations?
What rankles me most is that Fox lies right up front about what it does. It promotes itself as “fair and balanced,” yet is decidedly an arm of the Republican Party. And Bill O’Reilly would boast about his “No-Spin Zone” and then proceed to spin.
But Fox now has been overtaken by Sinclair as the greatest threat to a free and independent press. When it insists all news anchors and reporters say the same thing on 192 stations in a pseudo-editorial that that exceeds the bluster and callous disregard of truth shown by O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, we are indeed reaching a breaking point.
Sinclair’s stuff looks an awful lot like what George Orwell warned us about in “1984.” It is reminiscent of state-run media like we saw in the Soviet Union with TASS, or Pravda, only it’s not run by government, it’s the corporate state.
Sinclair now is applying to the FCC to try to expand its growing empire that could enable the firm to control as many as three-fourths of the television stations in the United States. He who controls the media controls what we can know and not know.
“In a totalitarian state, you cannot speak out against the government. In a corporate state, you cannot speak out against the sponsor.” — Kalle Lasn, founder of “Adbusters”
We have to raise our voices in protest. Better yet we should all refuse to watch Channel 3 news as a result. That way we’d be doing something that might make them pay attention, threatening their bottom line.
Like him or hate him, David Hogg did a number on Laura Ingraham by reaching out to her sponsors. If the corporate media refuses to understand and appreciate independent and free thought, we need to speak the only language that matters to them — money.
OK. I get it. Fake news only comes from conservative biased broadcasters. Funny you did not point out some of what CNN does as a news provider. How about CNN Turkey. Did any research on that yet? It would be safe to assume they also curry to whatever agenda is most profitable to them here at home as well. And we all know what that is. Trump bashing.
I’m not here to defend Trump or his antics. What I find most disturbing is the continuous accusations of whatever is of a conservative nature, while ignoring the failings of the liberal news outlets. You point out the omission of the Stormy Daniels story from Fox and their ilk. Why in the world would they broadcast something that you could listen to 24/7 on all the other channels? And why do the other channels seem to pay more attention to Stormy than the FBI investigation, or the economy (unless the market takes a dump), crimes committed by illegal aliens (and cities now starting to rebel against “sanctuary” laws), or how ISIS has almost vanished from our daily discussions?
I will agree that the press has become the vendor of “Bread for the Circus”, but it is a failing of the whole, not just the conservative side of the press/media.
Mr. Moras,
Thank you for commenting – right on! Keep up the great comments.
Sinclair is becoming the RT News of the United States.
We’ll see people play the “What Aboutism” card, but the only way you may be able to be oblivious to Sinclair’s goals after the recent required corporately written “Mission Statement” script was read by many Sinclair affiliates would be if you are deaf and blind.
The truth isn’t us or them. Local news can downplay or ignore local stories that don’t play into what Sinclair or another corporate owner wants if they are going to keep tight editorial control over what is aired.
For example, WWMT can run stories about local opiate addiction and interview GOP Congressman Fred Upton about the $13B increase in the 2018 budget and not followup on what parts of the budget Upton thinks should be cut under the 2011 Pay as You Go provision that is the mechanism to automatically cut funds if there isn’t sufficient revenue. No one from WWMT ever asked Upton how he could explain his vote for the Keystone Pipeline after Enbridge malfeasance allowed between 875K to 1M gallons of crude oil from Canadian shile to pollute Talmadge Creek, which feeds into the Kalamazoo River, almost all in his district.
This is just one example. Another more recent is how much Pfizer wants from local governments to build a new facility in the Kalamazoo/Portage area for 120 and maybe up to 450 jobs after the MI GOP majority legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder allegedly made Michigan a pro-business state with major tax shift legislation. WWMT is rarely critical or introspective on issues like that.
Can’t stop it in today’s conglomerate world, but we can be aware of it. After WZZM’s ownership failed to buy WUHQ (channel 41) when financing fell through in 1991, WOTV (Channel 8) owner LIN Broadcasting purchased the station in November 1991. In 1992 TV8 regained the WOOD letters and shifted WOTV to what used to be WUHQ. At the same time, they gutted the news department and simulcast, talking away another choice and made WWMT the only game in town again. (LIN was acquired by General Media in 2014).
With Sinclair’s push for a monolithic message across their current 177 stations and possible up to 233 if the FCC and DOJ allow Sinclair’s purchase of Tribune TV stations to go through its time to question if corporate .ownership of ths many staions in this many markets. Whistle blowers are needed to notify the public of attempts by corporate owners (like Sinclair) efforts to promote their corporate policy as a local “Mission Statements”.
PS
Given this recent news, why are Allegan County Democrats WWMT’s Andy Dominianni as a moderator for a candidate event?
How is it the editor of this news outlet can preface an editorial written by himself with “ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story.” and then complain about another media outlet giving the same warning?
Is freedom of speech only to be for those of liberal persuasion? Our college campuses are already suffering from discrimination and censorship, by disrupting events where speakers share different views are scheduled to appear. Even the bastion of free speech, Berkeley is guilty, along with many others.
And now a boycott of a media company that openly espouses their bias? This is getting absurd. We can not even share views anymore. Even our judicial system has become politicized to the point of frivolous lawsuits to stop actions assured the president in the constitution and our federal statutes.
Liberals in this country have become so obsessed that they are willing to destroy our society with tantrums that would befit the most spoiled of children. Time to get a grip here. We are all in this together. And whether we agree or not, we should be hoping for things to work out for the best and not hoping for the worst, just to prove a point or to satisfy some childish tantrum because they can not have their way 100% of the time.