Sinclair Forces Anchors to Read Scripted Promo

Anchors at Sinclair owned stations are being handing a script from corporate and told to read it as a promo. 

One Anchor tells FTVLive, it feels like he's being held hostage and has been handed a script to read for the camera. 

Sinclair is calling the promo,  "anchor delivered journalistic responsibility message."

Others are calling it, "complete bullshit."

The script that the talent is being told to read says in part, "The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media. More alarming, national media outlets are publishing these same fake stories without checking facts first.”

“Unfortunately, some members of the national media are using their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control 'exactly what people think' ... This is extremely dangerous to our democracy."

What national media? Who is using it to push their personal bias? The Sinclair script doesn't get into details.

Of course, this is the same company that is "pushing" their conservative message to viewers and disguising inside local newscasts.  

The memo sent to local stations says, "Please produce the attached scripts exactly as they are written."

It goes on to say that, "This copy has been thoroughly tested..." It does not say who tested it and where it was tested. 

One line of the promo reads, “Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.”

"I almost threw up my lunch when I read that line," one Sinclair Anchor told FTVLive. 

No word if the promos will air next to Boris Epshteyn's segments in the newscast. You know, the segments in which he spouts, "biased and false news."

---