Sinclair Broadcast Group is ditching its star political analysts, including former Trump aide Boris Epshteyn, in favor of investigative journalism.
According to an NBC report Wednesday, the network said in a statement to staff that the move signals its direction toward “expanding our local investigative journalism footprint in our daily newscasts.”
“We have to shine a light on our value proposition every quarter hour, in every newscast,” the company said in a statement obtained by NBC. “Therefore, we will be expanding our local investigative journalism footprint in our daily newscasts. We are excited to dedicate more time in our newscasts to report on critical and relevant issues.”
The statement also announced the upcoming departures of both Epshteyn, who previously worked as a special assistant to President Trump, and Ameshia Cross.
Epshteyn was featured in controversial must-run segments local stations were required to broadcast. One such segment downplayed the Trump administration’s family separation policy, pinning the opposition to the effort on “liberals” and the media.
A source told NBC on Wednesday that although he will no longer serve as a political commentator, “Boris will be moving into a sales-focused role with the company.”
Sounds like the bottom line beat Trumpism. Sinclair needs to do a better job locally so it is spending more money and time on local stories. They will probably be right leaning stories and will focus a lot on bad things young black men do, but they will be local. Never forget the Action News model, coverage of black on black violence sells in the white community. Racism pays.
They’re thinking that at this time there shouldn’t be someone named Boris shilling for tRump on their stations.
Boris doesn’t have to worry. OAN will pick him up.
A lot of the local stations were running the requisite propaganda at odd times; I’m guessing that’s why they are dropping the commentary and going after local stories they can distort to fit the fascist narrative. Sinclair and Fox are pure proganada and should not be allowed to operate. They exemplify the paradox of tolerance, as defined by Karl Popper.
Less well known is the paradox of tolerance : Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. — In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.
(laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh)
Boris didn;t even make it a year.
Sinclair realized they could never be taken seriously as a news organization with Mini-Goebbels like Epshteyn on their payroll.
I doubt that Sinclair means “investigative journalism” the way most journalists do, but if this gives the local stations more leeway to do their own stories then that is a good thing. Some of those stations have been fighting back against Sinclair and its attempts at propaganda, and those stations will likely pursue investigations that are good journalism. The ones that will pursue Republican talking points are already doing so, nothing will change there.
What we really need is a Congress that passes laws that force news organizations to report fairly and accurately, and give both sides a proper airing…good journalists already do so, but places like Fox, Sinclair, and OAN are now just Republican propaganda mills. Getting real facts into those places will hamper their ability to spout nonsense without risking their licenses. Yes, journalists should be free to pursue stories, but as things stand now we need some kind of bulwark against the rotten propaganda that has infected our system ever since Reagan got rid of the Fairness Doctrine.