While the liberal media is up in arms over Sinclair Broadcast Group instructing its anchors read a journalistic responsibility message on air, turns out the public is on board with the sentiments expressed in that message.
Anchors spoke of a “troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country,” with an emphasis on how some media outlets publish “fake stories,” all of which prompted many to claim it was a pro-Trump “authoritarian” message.
An important factor getting lost in the mix is that, as Joe Concha noted in an op-ed run Friday by The Hill, “these were promos and were not presented as news.”
He accurately stated that the Sinclair promo video was later “expertly spliced together by Deadspin.com” and would prompt most people to agree with HBO’s John Oliver, who said the anchors were “forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult.”
Cause and effect.
But Concha lays out the case that these anchors were just doing their jobs, “based on the predominant view of the media today.”
Sinclair, the largest owner of television stations in the U.S., does seem to be in tune with the American public, as seen in new Monmouth University poll.
According to the survey, a majority of Americans agree that mainstream news outlets report “fake news,” with more than three in four saying they believe this to be true.
Concha draws attention to a Gallup studyin January that showed only 32 percent of Americans think the media is “careful to separate fact from opinion,” compared to 58 percent in 1984, before comparing that the Sinclair script:
“Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control ‘exactly what people think.’ … This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.”
As for this bias, he points to Pew Research finding that President Trump received a total of 5 percent positive coverage in his first year in office — more than eight times less than what was afforded to his predecessor.
And still the liberal media protests?
Here’s a sampling of responses to Concha’s article, as seen on Twitter:
News orgs keep telling us they report correctly. But we know that isn’t true because omission of truths to spin facts and taking quotes out of context = “fake news.” Whether it’s propping up or tearing down a person it’s still all spin.
— Eleanor Ohio (@eleanor_ohio) April 6, 2018
The actual content of the script also matches branding efforts by almost any good business. You deliver a product based on customer wants and needs.
— BrianPeterson (@bcpeterson56) April 6, 2018
That's what happens when you are in a cult. You can't differentiate the truth from the false. @JoeConchaTV https://t.co/MDYIeB8QCJ
— Sappho's Revenge (@AGraceMorgan63) April 6, 2018
Pretty large logical fallacy here. Step one: shape public narrative. Uh oh….Interruption by some in public pointing out coordination. Two: take survey that justifies your position by sampling the public AFTER you’ve pushed your position….not before.
— Paul LaFountain (@LafountainPaul) April 6, 2018
I read that it was done by some employee as a sort of satire of the news! But who knows, the trust in news is at an all time low as it seems anything goes!
— klynn (@jacqueline05063) April 6, 2018
One consequence of the expansion of social media coupled with the degradation of journalism, is that people do not distinguish between opinion and news. We must rely more on blogs to say informed because CNN, for example, has faltered so profoundly. Sinclair’s promos aren’t news.
— david w. thompson (@dwthompson1945) April 6, 2018
Great article. I do believe that the video unfairly makes the Sinclair stations look like robots. This biased video is to be expected from Deadspin as is the response from the likes of Morning Joe & company.
— shawn williams (@Listen___Learn) April 6, 2018
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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