I think people know, but Sinclair is the emerging threat to American public debate that is controlled by conservative owners. Sinclair requires their local affilate TV stations to run conservative-biased segments. In one case last year Sinclair lied about Hillary and the Democrats -- they <i>required</i> their local affiliates to run this segment -- saying viewers "should not vote for Hillary because Ds were historically pro-slavery". But all educated Americans know that the parties flipped their positions in the 1960s when Dems under LBJ courageously pushed out the racists to pass the Civil Rights Act and the racists moved to the Republicans.
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/business/media/sinclair-broadcast-komo-conservative-media.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/business/media/sinclair-b...</a><p>Sinclair also used their size and connections to the conservative movement to get FCC commissioners who would repeal rules on concentrated ownership of local TV stations.<p>Ownership of media outlets used to be a big topic of concern in the US. Who owns media outlets is going to be one of the defining issues of our future.
<i>“Sinclair proudly supports the Cancer Foundation and its educational mission. Any absence of sponsorship identification in these public service segments was unintended and a result of simple human error."</i><p>I hope a 13 million dollar fine will inspire them to prevent this type of human error again. But given the size of Sinclair it's more a slap on the wrist.
John Oliver's segment does cover Sinclair in detail:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtNyOzGogc" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtNyOzGogc</a>
See also another article published today:<p>Building A Case: Sinclair Broadcasting’s Project Baltimore offers right-wing news coverage of city schools
by Jaisal Noor<p><a href="http://baltimorebeat.com/2017/12/21/building-case-sinclair-broadcastings-project-baltimore-offers-right-wing-news-coverage-city-schools/" rel="nofollow">http://baltimorebeat.com/2017/12/21/building-case-sinclair-b...</a><p>// “[Project Baltimore] are building a case to privatize schools,” Diamonte Brown, a Baltimore school teacher and an advocate for reforming the school system told The Real News. //<p>Wonder who's paying for that...
This is like 5% of their net income, so a slap on the wrist. They control more than 40% of the local news market. The FTC needs to break them up, not keep approving their continued growth.
"[They] deliberately runs shows that will earn them huge fines they can then funnel through the FCC straight to the Republican Party. Everybody in the media knows it but no one has the guts to say it." Simpsons Season 18 Episode 22
How much was Sinclair paid to air the content? I mean... how could you possibly write an article without including this sort of information? It is impossible to know whether the fine levied was at all reasonable without knowing how much Sinclair profited from breaking the law. If they were paid $13.4 million + $1 or more, then the FCC has guaranteed that airing such content will become standard business practice. Only if they were paid less than $13.4 million is there even the slightest hope that their actions will be modified in the future.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."<p>What is the statutory reason that they are not allowed to do this? Sincere question.