Are you watching a Sinclair station? Here’s the list.
The Trump Administration is set to grant Sinclair “unparalleled control” over local TV markets. If its merger with Tribune Media is approved Sinclair will grow from ownership of stations in 40% to 70% of the nation’s media markets. (CNET)
Michael Copps (FCC Commissioner 2001-2012):
“Sinclair is probably the most dangerous company in all of our American media. The most dangerous company people have never heard of. I’ve long been a critic of media conglomeration. But this one is especially bad just because of how they have avoided all responsibility, bent the the law and really undermined the Democratic dialogue that is so important to our Democracy.”
(CNN, 4/2/2018)
Kushner: We struck deal with Sinclair for straighter coverage
last night’s pbs newshour segment:
A viral video compilation of local TV anchors is raising new concerns about the way Sinclair Broadcast Group mixes news with conservative, partisan political opinion. And while it already reaches over a third of homes across the nation, the country’s largest owner of local TV stations is hoping to get bigger.
JUDY WOODRUFF:
But first- Does it matter who owns your local TV station?
While polls shows Americans are increasingly worried about so-called fake news, they also show that many trust their local news more than other sources.
The largest owner of local stations in the country is Sinclair Broadcasting….
taking a page from the book on putin propaganda network, Sinclair if expansion approved will own 4 out of every 5 local station. hello pravda, rt and tass your new news stations. no wonder rural America voted the way it did if that’s the only station available to it.
There are several Univision channels listed. Now, how are they gonna spew Trumpsky’s hate speech on Spanish-language channels?
What’s alarming to me is how much local news sucks. Yeah… you get the latest school closings, what’s going on in the state’s government, and the weather (one of the only reasons why I sometimes watch it). But it’s filled with stuff like car crashes, bar fights, stolen dogs, shootings (in Missouri even though I live in NH), etc. etc. And it accomplishes this in 30 second sound bites. Watching it makes me feel dumbed down.
If middle America is getting most of it’s news from such stations… it’s one explanation of why so many of them voted for the likes of trumpty dumpty.
[sorry for the length but it’s important to read her statement in its entirety]
wapo oped Jill McCabe: The president attacked my reputation. It’s time to set the record straight.
By Jill McCabe April 2 at 7:18 PM
Jill McCabe, an emergency room pediatrician, is married to former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.
I am an emergency room pediatrician and an accidental politician — someone who never thought much about politics until I was recruited to run for state office after making a statement about the importance of expanding Medicaid. That decision — plus some twisted reporting and presidential tweets — ended up costing my husband, Andrew, his job and our family a significant portion of his pension my husband had worked hard for over 21 years of federal service. For the past year and a half of this nightmare, I have not been free to speak out about what happened. Now that Andrew has been fired, I am.
Andrew and I met as sophomores in college, at Duke University. He was interested in law (eventually law enforcement), I in medicine (eventually pediatrics). Andrew’s a reliable Republican; I have voted, over time, for both Republicans and Democrats.
As we have raised our children, I tried to vote more regularly and pay more attention to the issues that affect our community. And with my work in a hospital emergency room in Virginia, I saw the impact of how government decisions hurt my patients, especially when the state decided not to accept the federal government’s funding to expand Medicaid.
I was providing care in the most expensive setting — the emergency room — and only once a patient’s condition became more serious, because he or she had no other options. In addition, our state’s decision was increasing the cost of health care for everyone, ultimately raising prices, premiums and taxes, while thousands of patients suffered. The whole thing just made no sense.
One day in 2014, an entourage of politicians came through the ER, and a reporter pulled me aside to ask how Medicaid expansion would affect my patients. I did not think any more of it until a year later, when I received a voice mail asking whether I might be interested in running for the state Senate.
I was stunned — I went home and told Andrew, and we laughed about how crazy that idea was. A few days later, I got another call: Clark Mercer, chief of staff to then-Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, asking me to at least speak to Ralph, who is a pediatric neurologist. I was moved by Ralph’s story about how he had used his medical background to advocate for the needs of the children he serves.
I started to become more interested, thinking, “Here’s a way I can really try to help people on a bigger scale than what I do every day.” While I was considering the possibility, Andrew and I went to Richmond to meet with various politicians, including then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The subject of Hillary Clinton never came up — the story about her emails had not even broken when I was first approached by Northam. All the governor asked of me was that I support Medicaid expansion.
Still, in thinking about running, one of my first concerns was Andrew and his job at the FBI, where he was the assistant director in charge of the Washington field office. I said to Andrew, “If you think this is going to be a problem for you professionally, even if it’s allowed, I won’t do it.”
He consulted with the ethics experts at the FBI and committed to follow their advice. We tried to go even beyond what the rules required — Andrew kept himself separate from my campaign. When the kids and I went door-knocking, he did not participate; he wouldn’t even drive us. He could have attended one of my fundraisers but never did. One day he put on a campaign T-shirt so we could take a family picture and share it with my proud parents. You may have seen it — it seems to have taken on a weird life of its own — but that was it, just a family picture at a swim meet.
Meanwhile, my campaign received funding from the state Democratic Party and the governor’s PAC — on par with what other candidates in competitive races on both sides of the aisle received. All those contributions were publicly reported. And of course, again, Clinton’s emails never came up — if they had, I would have found that alarming, immediately reported it and likely pulled out of the campaign. I know enough from being married to Andrew for 20 years to know what is right and what is wrong.
I lost my race in November 2015. It was disappointing, and particularly hard for me because I have always been the kind of person who gives everything her all. But I felt good about my effort and enjoyed returning to normal life.
Almost a year later, everything changed. A reporter called my cellphone on a Sunday in October 2016, asking questions about contributions to my campaign and whether there had been any influence on Andrew’s decisions at the FBI.
This could not be further from the truth. In fact, it makes no sense. Andrew’s involvement in the Clinton investigation came not only after the contributions were made to my campaign but also after the race was over. Since that news report, there have been thousands more, repeating the false allegation that there was some connection between my campaign and my husband’s role at the FBI.
After the 2016 election, I thought for a while that it was all over — at least now that President-elect Trump won, he would stop coming after us. How naive that was. After then-FBI Director James B. Comey was fired, we knew that Andrew could be the next target of the president’s wrath.
Then the president started tweeting about how the contributions to my campaign made it clear that Andrew (and all the senior leadership at the FBI) were corrupt and that he should be removed. It went one step further in the days before Christmas, when the president made threats related to my husband’s retirement.
To have my personal reputation and integrity and those of my family attacked this way is beyond horrible. It feels awful every day. It keeps me up nights. I made the decision to run for office because I was trying to help people. Instead, it turned into something that was used to attack our family, my husband’s career and the entire FBI.
Nothing can prepare you for what happens when your life is turned upside down by current events. Nothing prepares you for conversations you have to have with your teenage children. Nothing prepares you for the news crews staking out your house, your back yard, your place of business. Nothing prepares you for the fear you feel every time you receive a package from a stranger.
I have spent countless hours trying to understand how the president and so
many others can share such destructive lies about me. Ultimately I believe it somehow never occurred to them that I could be a serious, independent-minded physician who wanted to run for office for legitimate reasons. They rapidly jumped to the conclusion that I must be corrupt, as part of what I believe to be an effort to vilify us to suit their needs.
Throughout this experience, my work has been a sanctuary. I walk into the hospital, and everybody there knows me as a professional. The patients know me as a doctor and not a news story. It is not easy, but I have to put all of our challenges aside to focus on the patients and families I treat.
Now that I can speak on my own behalf, I want people to know that the whole story that everything is based on is just false and utterly absurd.
No matter what the path ahead, I have faith that our family will get through this. Despite everything, we are closer than ever. Andrew and I have amazing children and a support network that knows who we truly are. We will not allow ourselves to be defined by a false narrative.
While I have no intention of running for office again, I believe in what my campaign stood for, and I still hope we can see our way to Medicaid expansion in Virginia. The patients who inspired me to run continue to come to the ER every day, and they need our help.
dr. jill & family, target of twit tweetstorms
well well well, potential additions to the drip drip drip
ny times via msn: From Thai Jail, Sex Coaches Say They Want to Trade U.S.-Russia Secrets for Safety
PATTAYA, Thailand — A pair of self-described sex instructors from Belarus have been stuck in a Thai detention center for weeks. They say they have evidence demonstrating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States, and that they have offered it to the F.B.I. in exchange for a guarantee of their safety.
Their claim — that they are targets of a covert Russian operation to silence them because they know too much — might seem outlandish, but their case certainly includes some unusual circumstances.
They have influential enemies in Russia. They were arrested with the help of a “foreign spy,” according to the Thai police, and locked up on what is a fairly minor offense: working without a permit. And the F.B.I. says it tried to talk to the pair, suggesting that American investigators had not dismissed their account out of hand.
“They know we have more information,” one of the pair, Alexander Kirillov, 38, told The New York Times last month in an unauthorized phone call from the detention center in Bangkok. Mr. Kirillov said his co-defendant, Anastasia Vashukevich, 27, had angered some powerful people. “They know she knows a lot,” he said. “And that’s why they made this case against us.”
Ms. Vashukevich certainly knows how to get attention. In February, a top critic of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, released a video that included footage she recorded during a brief affair she had with a Russian aluminum tycoon while working as an escort aboard his yacht in 2016. The evidence included photos she posted of the tycoon and his guest, Sergei E. Prikhodko, a deputy prime minister, and recorded them talking about relations between the United States and Russia.
The aluminum tycoon, Oleg V. Deripaska, has close ties with Mr. Putin and with Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, who has been indicted on money laundering charges by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel looking into election interference.
The escort and her seduction coach have been held largely incommunicado since March 5, when reporters for The Times and other news media outlets were kicked out of the detention center for speaking to them. They now face deportation and fear what might happen to them if they are sent home to Russia, where they live, or Belarus, the former Soviet republic where they grew up, which remains firmly within Russia’s influence. (Mr. Kirillov was traveling on a Russian passport.)
[…continues…]
more which is more interesting from that link above:
Before traveling to Thailand, Mr. Kirillov grew worried about repercussions from the exposé and asked a childhood friend, Eliot Cooper, to contact United States authorities on his behalf, Mr. Cooper said.
Mr. Cooper, who lives in Canada, said in a telephone interview that he called an F.B.I. hotline in February and proposed trading the recordings for the pair’s safety.
He said he had told the hotline agent about one recorded conversation in which Mr. Deripaska and Mr. Prikhodko discussed wanting Mr. Trump to win.
“I explained all of that to the F.B.I.,” he said. “They should have a transcript of everything and a recording of my voice.”
Mr. Cooper said he had never heard back from the agency. The F.B.I. declined to comment.
Mr. Cooper said that Mr. Kirillov had hidden copies and instructed associates to release them if he or Ms. Vashukevich were killed or went missing.
“There is no investigation,” Mr. Cooper said. “The Americans are not interested. They want them to disappear, and Nastya in particular, because she is a living witness.”
Most people don’t realize how little of either radio or TV programming is “original” or how few local employees exist at their local stations. A great deal of what you see or hear are nothing but “drop ins” that are dispersed on a regional or nationwide basis and are simply purchased by the chain that owns that local station. The Sinclair chorus that has come to life, is only the most egregious example.
Perk up your ears the next time you think you’ve heard the exact words before. More often than not it is a script cut in such a way that any “interviewer” can read it in such a way that the split screen “interviewee” can provide pre-recorded answers. This makes it possible for the “interviewee” to be played around the clock without actually being anywhere near the station.
It has gotten so bad that if I don’t see them sitting side by side, I don’t believe they are in the same room.
Our locals are all in SF-Oakland and are not terrible. Although one is owned by Fox their local coverage is ok not much in terms of politics is injected. It is the Bay area and I assume they want people to continue watching
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/04/02/two-new-studies-show-how-marijuana-can-help-fight-the-opioid-epidemic/
30 days in jail 20k fine loss of job and probably law license as well
Bobby Three Sticks is firm – don’t mess with me
KY Dem (and former Marine) pulling campaign ads from SINclair
SINclair = synch LIAR
No more ad money for you, except from NRA/Koch whores…who will lose.
The local coverage of the recent fires was excellent both print and broadcast
I think anyone who voted for SFB should be deported
Sinclair right now is a minor problem but the planned merger with give them total control over local broadcasting. Not something that is in the interest of the nation. As to our local TV I rarely watch it but I do follow several of the local stations on twitter. On twitter they seem more local than their broadcast shows seem. The Star’s twitter feed on the other hand, is more likely to be about silly click bait else where than local news. I’m about to give up on them.
Jack
SFB just spewed such garbage and lies – why don’t reporters follow up
omg SFB just announced his plan to militarize the borders
Unless there is a large, local event (like a huge area of Dallas that had gas lines upgraded only after a house exploded and killed a girl…and the attempt to disregard the problems reported before that happened & downplay it afterward) or weather info, it’s pretty much like RR said. I just don’t need to know about every bad thing that happened in a 10-second sound bite.
I seldom watch local news. I do catch sports and weather occasionally, and if someone tells me about a spot I might be interested in I will tune in. I’m not typical and I’m not who local tv tries to influence. I did see the video of the Sinclair newsies reciting the statement – they should work with the audio to sync the words and make it sound like a chorus. It’s close, but not quite there. I believe it would have folks rolling in the aisles. There’s only one Sinclair station on the list that’s aired over Spectrum cable here, and it’s a lesser Fox station out of the Pittsburgh area and my impression is that it doesn’t have much penetration here – thankfully.
Correction: The Fox station is local (non-Sinclair) The Pittsburgh station is CBS affiliate (non-Sinclair).
the get-out-of-jail card magic words seem to be “if they have co-operated “
the guardian coverage of the sentencing
Van der Zwaan’s sentence could be a guide for what other defendants charged with lying in Mueller’s investigation receive when their cases are resolved, if they have co-operated.
[…]
Van der Zwaan had faced up to six months in prison, under federal sentencing guidelines. His attorneys pushed for him to pay a fine and leave the country. US district judge Amy Berman Jackson cited the need to deter others from lying in an investigation of international importance and said incarceration was necessary.
[….]
Prosecutors did not take a position on whether Van der Zwaan should be locked up but they stressed that he had lied “repeatedly” to investigators.
It was 50 years ago yesterday (April 2) that a sentient computer called HAL wreaked havoc on a crewed spaceship on its way to Jupiter.
what? 50 years ago!!! my, how time does fugit. seems like only yesterday this little scene put the fear of HAL in everybody.
Does Trumpsky realize many just fly in (from Ireland, for instance) & just never go home?
And, what of the US citizenship tourism from Russia, where Russian women stay at Trumpsky properties (and others) so they can give birth here?
And, why is he talking super-crazy (instead of regular-for-Trumpsky-crazy) about fascist-y things like militarizing the border and evaluating immigration judges based on number/speed of deportations? He must be trying to distract us from something else.
Has he not yet learned that we can keep track of multiple situations? Even if the Republicans in Congress don’t care.
Disgruntled employee or somebody upset about a Youtube video? Either way, another week, another shooting.
I really think the MSM could help by doing a massive, multi-network show (like they do with telethons), but talk about isolation, communication, bullying, where to get metal health help, yoga, meditation, etc., and include stuff for all ages.
Woman with a gun – in an outdoor area so unclear how/why she was at Youtube
So SFB is taking comfort in only being the subject of the investigation instead of the target of the investigation. Some comfort. A person who knows he’s guilty takes comfort in merely being the subject of the investigation.
Crooked donald is militarizing the border.
Crooked don should lean on bright red Texas to pitch in a few $B!LL!ON$ for his wall. After all, it IS a local matter.
Dotard Donald?
Dotard is one of my favorites