Dan Abrams on Sinclair’s Defense of Promo: ‘Disingenuous’ to Pretend It’s About Journalistic Responsibility

Mediaite founder Dan Abrams was not particularly impressed with how Sinclair Broadcasting Group has handled the controversy surrounding their nationwide message about fake and biased news.

Abrams joined CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday, and he noted that the scripted package detracts from all of the local media outlets who pride themselves as independent news sources. Sinclair has characterized the segment as a “corporate news journalistic responsibility promotional campaign” in an internal memo, though Abrams was disturbed by the “lack of transparency” in the current state of affairs.

“If Sinclair wants to come out and say ‘there has been media liberal bias for years out there, it is time to combat that,’ fair enough. That is absolutely their right to say it, and you know what? A lot of people would agree with them…But to pretend this isn’t that kind of statement. To pretend this is a statement of how good we are as local news reporters and how we’re gonna go in depth and we’re getting the real story, etc, just feels disingenuous.”

NPR’s David Folkenflik expressed agreement with Abrams, saying Sinclair is free to express its corporate belief, but it was doing so by compelling local anchors to read from the teleprompter. When Cooper brought up the Sinclair segment on one-sided reporting, Abrams noted that its a veiled shot at the “liberal media,” and now the controversy has put local anchors in an impossible position in terms of their jobs and journalistic principles.

Watch above, via CNN.

[Image via screengrab]

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