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Is the Sinclair Media anchor script 'extremely dangerous to our democracy'?

April 03, 2018 / 4:02 pm

caption: Screenshot from a Deadspin video of Sinclair Media group anchors, reading a mandatory prepared script.

Seattle’s KOMO and other local affiliates were swept up in controversy after they were required to read a script written by the conservative Sinclair Media Group, which owns 200 local stations across the country. This Deadspin video captured the eerie repetition.

Should you worry about the politicization of television news? Bob Garfield, host of On The Media, and David Kroman of Crosscut sat down with Bill Radke to discuss.

There's a script that anchors from television stations owned by the conservative @WeAreSinclair Media Group were required to read on air. @Crosscut's @KromanDavid (who has been following this on @komonews in Seattle) and @onthemedia's @Bobosphere.Welcome to #KUOWRecord!— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) April 3, 2018

Why are they doing this? @Bobosphere: The explicitly political right-wing media does have an agenda to counter-balance what they see as an explicit bias in ordinary reporting.#KUOWRecord— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) April 3, 2018

Reading back through our Sinclair/KOMO coverage is an example of not totally understanding what we were seeing in real time. First: https://t.co/xVXQzgGtMU— David Kroman (@KromanDavid) April 2, 2018

.@Bobosphere: It is masquerading as the work of individual journalists just sharing what's on their mind. It isn't that. It is propaganda, written from a distance corporate headquarters, and imposed on what could be more than half the population.It's sinister. #KUOWRecord— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) April 3, 2018

Should @komonews journalists quit their job?@KromanDavid: I've talked to people in recent days that genuinely believe their reporting hasn't been influenced by Sinclair. #KUOWRecord— KUOW Public Radio (@KUOW) April 3, 2018

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Bill Radke
Host

Bill hosts Week In Review and Words in Review. After starting with KUOW as a University of Washington student in 1985, Bill was KUOW's morning host in the '90s and the creator of past show, Rewind, a news-satire show heard on KUOW and nationwide on NPR. Bill moved away to Southern California to host American Public Media's Weekend America and Marketplace Morning Report and returned to KUOW in 2012.
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Is the Sinclair Media anchor script 'extremely dangerous to our democracy'?

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