A haunting video has shaken the media since going viral over the weekend: in it, news anchors at stations across the country owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group are seen reciting a propagandistic script about “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country.” The video provides a chilling look at the impact corporate-owners of local TV stations can have on a free and fair press when they decide to use those networks to promote a political agenda rather than to simply report the news.
However, instead of sticking together and fighting against an agenda backed by billionaire conservatives and right-wing politicians, the Fourth Estate is attacking itself from the inside, with some of the biggest voices in media condemning the journalists — instead of the corporation itself.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski has repeatedly slammed Sinclair anchors throughout the week for repeating the script, saying on Monday “this was a disgrace across the board on the part of the journalists involved.”
“For some of the people in those boxes that we saw, who might be starting out, there may be a pass given, but I don’t understand reading that,” Brzezinski said Monday. “I don’t understand reading that, just acting it out like they did. Those were seasoned journalists. You are the front-line of defense in terms of telling the truth to your audience — you have to be able to push back.”
She later recalled a moment from 2007 in which she refused to read a report about Paris Hilton on Morning Joe, laughing as she shredded a script about the celebrity in a seemingly unscripted move.
In some ways, she and other viewers are right to criticize the anchors featured in the video. The controversial script they read echoes many of the sentiments President Donald Trump has expressed about the media: “The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media,” the anchors are seen reciting. “More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories… stories that just aren’t true, without checking facts first.”
Lambasting reporters doesn’t help prevent against Sinclair and other corporate owners further encroaching on the daily operations of TV stations nationwide, however. In fact, Brzezinski’s comments only help to further undermine the press — at a time when its already being attacked by conglomerate entities, corporate interests and the president himself.
Brzezinski also fails to acknowledge how journalists working for Sinclair have been secretly fighting back ever since the corporation began forcing anchors to recite scripts and play “must-run” segments on the Deep State conspiracy theory and other conservative talking points. Many reporters in Sinclair newsrooms have been leaking details about the “must-runs” and daily operations with journalists who are unaffiliated with the corporation. They’ve spoken out not only in the hopes that other journalists
Several employees at Sinclair-owned networks have quit since the most-recent developments, citing an “obvious bias.” “This is almost forcing local news anchors to lie to their viewers,” one morning TV producer at KHGI TV told CNN after leaving the network. “I didn’t go into news to give people biased information.”
Still, not every reporter or Sinclair employee is in a position to just quit their jobs — especially in an industry as competitive and strenuous as the news. Several reports detail the draconian punishments anchors at Sinclair-owned stations may endure should they decide to quit, including a penalty fee equivalent to 40 percent of their annual salaries and non-compete agreements that bar them from working in competitor’s newsrooms throughout their local regions. Sinclair is also the largest owner of TV stations nationwide, with nearly 200 total stations.
Not to mention, there are known examples of Sinclair going after journalists who quit their jobs at local stations. Journalist James Beaton was sued by the corporation after quitting in 2015, telling Los Angeles Times he felt he was made to do “politically biased” reporting.
“I’d ask loaded questions like, ‘How much do you disagree with Obama this year?'” he said. “It was disguised
The lawsuit originally asked Beaton to pay $25,000, though he only made $44,000 a year. The suit remains ongoing after Sinclair reportedly said it would settle if he paid $1,700 and signed a gag order vowing not to speak about the company to media outlets.
Meanwhile, the average journalist reportedly makes just over $39,000 a year; many are barely in a position where they can afford their monthly bills and rent payments. To argue that a reporter should quit a job in television or face being fired, then pay thousands of dollars in penalties, move hundreds of miles away to oblige by non-compete agreements and then suffer the pressures of finding a new job in an entirely different market is not only an impractical and unrealistic demand, but also represents a deep unawareness of what it’s like being a journalist in modern America.
Brzezinski would never have had to endure any of these painful situations, even if she were fired from her job in television for ripping up a script about Hilton, as she now claims she feared. The 50-year-old journalist is the daughter to former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and comes from an extremely well-connected family; one of her brothers, Mark Brzezinski, was the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden; the other, Ian Brzezinski, is a military expert. Her cousin, Matthew Brzezinski, was
It’s somewhat easier for those of us in this industry without Brzezinski’s connections to understand how the anchors at Sinclair perceive their job stability as a matter of life and death. For many of us, reporting isn’t just a fun job: it’s the only thing we know. Our passions for storytelling and investigating are what wakes us up in the morning and pays our bills at the end of the month.
Some of the journalists working for Sinclair are diligently moving the conversation forward, pushing back by keeping the national media informed on the latest developments from within the newsroom. We owe it to them and the industry to support their plight. Many are in the process of seeking out new opportunities, or deciding how to break their contracts while enduring the
[image via screengrab]
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