Sinclair Boss Cracks Down on Liberal Bias at Stations
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There is no one that would accuse the Sinclair Broadcast Group for leaning to the left. The company that cut a deal with Donald Trump to give him favorable coverage has been in the Right Wing for as long as anyone can remember.
But, it seems that a few of the Sinclair staffers are not towing the company's conservative leanings and now an internal memo has gone out, chastising the staff for their liberal beliefs.
Sinclair's VP of News, Scott Livingston sent out an internal email, which was obtained by FTVLive. It appears that Livingston has been looking at station reports and stalking employee's social media accounts and he sees some liberal leanings.
Livingston also says that David Smith is getting angry emails from board members who have seen "biased coverage" (liberal) in some Sinclair station's reports.
Of course, if any of these social media posts or on air reports leaned to the right, we highly doubt any employee would have received such a memo and no complaits would have come from the Board.
Here is the internal memo, obtained EXCLUSIVELY by FTVLive:
From: Scott Livingston
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2017 4:17 PM
Subject: Coverage concerns
Hi Everyone,
I want to remind everyone of our policy regarding personal political postings and fairness with our reporting. I'm seeing a troubling trend across many of our stations with one-sided political coverage. I want to make sure you're taking time to review with your team the importance of understanding our commitment to tracking the truth and challenging the accepted narrative in the mainstream media. I have been reviewing some of the reaction on our stations' social media accounts about a liberal bias in our reporting. After watching numerous stations' newscasts and reviewing our Facebook pages, I think there is reason to be concerned. While criticism of the media from both the political left and right is not unprecedented, it has become far more prevalent in recent months. We have to understand we are the news operation that takes additional steps to make sure our reporting is fair and unbiased.
This election was emotionally charged with many strong reactions and opinions, but as journalists we must remain objective. We will not tolerate any deviation from our goal to provide fair and balanced coverage.
It's important for us to understand viewers' frustration with the lack of depth in reporting on the transition of power. We're witnessing less objectivity from a variety of media outlets. This is potentially perilous to our profession because when viewers and readers lose trust in us, they stop consuming the news we produce.
Trust in the media has been declining in the last decade due to biased reporting. What we do is truly a privilege and it's our responsibility to make sure our coverage is fair. We must provide the context of these hot button political stories so our viewers understand that we're committed to providing more than the rhetoric.
The Chairman of our company, David Smith, has received several complaints from board members who have received calls about biased coverage.
We will not allow our platform to be used to exploit someone's personal agenda. Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.
Scott Livingston
Vice President of News
Sinclair Broadcast Group
