Sinclair Tries to Downplay Trump Relationship

On Friday, Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner spilled the beans that Trump's campaign struck a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group during the campaign to try and secure better media coverage.

You expect this kind of crap from a cable news station, but not from a so called "legitimate" news operation. 

Obviously Kushner, who figured that this was some kind of standard operation procedure, did not realize that his cushy deal with Sinclair would all but ruin what was left of Sinclair's reputation. 

Sinclair has long been known as a friend of the conservative, but news that the company's news departments would blatantly climb in bed with a candidate is something that all but sunk Sinclair's credibility. 

FTVLive obtained an internal memo sent out by Sinclair's VP of News, Scott Livingston.

Livingston was doing his best to put the toothpaste back in the tube and tried to downplay the company's cozy relationship with the Trump campaign. 

Here's the memo: 

Hi everyone,

There is a story circulating on Politico about Sinclair's political coverage with the Trump campaign. I want to assure you there was no "deal" between Sinclair and Trump.  We gave both campaigns an opportunity on a regular basis to be interviewed by our local news anchors. We were transparent with our offers to Mr. Trump and Secretary Clinton. It was an opportunity for the candidates to talk directly to the voters.  We wanted to provide our local viewers a chance to hear from both candidates to talk about the issues that matter to them. We do the same thing each week with our Connect to Congress project. Members of the House and Senate go to the rotunda and talk directly to their constituents through our stations. We've done it weekly, for more than a year. Again--direct access to viewers.

We reached out to the Clinton campaign more than 20 times, but they chose not to participate. Below are two of the many email exchanges I had with with the Clinton campaign. 

Our goal was to connect voters and candidates this year. We did it on a statewide level and on a national level. Some campaigns/candidates responded, some didn't. 

Hopefully, next election cycle, everyone will respond and participate.

Scott Livingston
Vice President of News

Livingston included two emails he said that he sent the Clinton campaign, asking them to be interviewed. 

What he did not address was how the questions to Trump were perceived by many to be nothing more than softballs. No word, if Clinton would have gotten the same kind of treatment. 

The bottom line, Trump's own family thinks that he got easy treatment and access to the Sinclair station's viewers. 

If Trump and his family perceive it this way, then it sure seems that Sinclair rolled over for the Trump campaign. 

Of course, Sinclair is also in hot water with the FCC for running paid news stories and not telling viewers that it was sponsored. 

Now word comes of their in bed relationship with a Presidential candidate. 

This should show people that Sinclair is not a company to be trusted when it comes to delivering non-biased news. 

Sadly, finding an unbiased news operation is getting harder and harder these days to find. 

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