Letter from a reader
Pro-Trump Media Giant Set to Take Over More TV Stations
May 11, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Fascist-supporting media is growing with media to be purchased by Sinclair Broadcast Group.
This week, the right-wing media company Sinclair Broadcast Group announced it will buy the Tribune Media Company and its 42 local TV stations, including WGN America in Chicago, KTLA in Los Angeles, WPIX in New York, and WDCW in Washington, DC.
The Sinclair Broadcast Group currently owns 173 TV stations in 81 cities, and this acquisition will add television stations in 33 markets. Such acquisitions need official approval from the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). It’s a safe bet that the FCC under the fascist Trump/Pence Regime will make sure that this deal goes through.
The Los Angeles Times noted, “The deal follows recent moves by the FCC to loosen restrictions on ownership of local TV stations, changes that could create a wave of deal-making in the broadcast industry.”
Sinclair has been on the forefront in supporting the Trump/Pence regime. The Washington Post reported in December, “In a speech to business executives in New York (last week), Jared Kushner (Trump’s son-in-law) said Trump’s campaign struck a deal with Sinclair to provide access and coverage… Kushner reportedly said that Sinclair’s stations, particularly in swing states such as Ohio and Florida, reached a far greater audience in their local area than a national network like CNN could.” Sinclair has denied that such a deal was struck.
According to the Washington Post, “Mark Hyman — a Sinclair executive and conservative commentator who appears on Sinclair stations — regularly criticized Clinton or highlighted positions favorable to Trump in his on-air commentaries.” The Post’s article gives further evidence on how Sinclair gave air time in support of Trump and against Hillary Clinton.
NPR reported, “Sinclair recently signed former Trump campaign aide Boris Epshteyn as its chief political analyst. To lead its Sunday public affairs show, Sinclair hired former CBS correspondent Sharyl Attkisson, an investigative reporter whose scrutiny of the Obama administration won her the admiration of many conservatives.”
In a conference call this week, Sinclair Chief Executive Chris Ripley announced that scripted TV shows being shown on WGN would “probably not continue.” Those scripted shows includes the excellent show Underground, a dramatic show about the Underground Railroad, depicting the harrowing and courageous journey of runaway slaves from the southern slave states to the northern states and the actions of the white abolitionists who supported them. Variety reported that Underground has excellent TV ratings and is WGN’s “most-watched original scripted entertainment program to date.”
This could very well point to what we are going to get with Sinclair adding these new stations—deleting shows like Underground while turning their stations into support for the fascist Trump/Pence regime.
Let’s be clear this is a ratcheting up of the fascist media in this country, which will be part of further consolidating this regime. One of the hallmarks of fascism is a leap in directly and indirectly controlling and influencing the mass media.
People can’t be standing on the sidelines watching this fascist regime as it continues to consolidate its power piece by piece. It must be stopped!
Our single unifying mission must be: Drive Out the Trump/Pence Regime.
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