‘Extremely Dangerous To Our Democracy’
• SAG-AFTRA has slammed Sinclair Broadcast Group in the wake of a company-wide directive that forces its news anchors to warn viewers about the prevalence of “fake news” and unsubstantiated news reports by mainstream media outlets. As Variety and other outlets have reported, Sinclair’s efforts have received increased scrutiny in the past few days after Deadspin assembled a deeply disturbing video compilation showing anchors at dozens of Sinclair stations reciting the same “fake news” directive word for word, like a well-lit hostage video.
The ultra-conservative Sinclair initiated a policy earlier this year of forcing the anchors at its 170-plus TV stations read the exact same warning about bias in news and false reports being “extremely dangerous to our democracy.” That policy has drawn fire from critics who say Sinclair is using its broad reach in local news to parrot President Trump’s frequent and baseless attacks on mainstream news outlets that have published well-sourced reports that were critical of his administration, personal life and family.
In a memo, SAG-AFTRA, which represents the anchors, said the criticism of the anchors is “misdirected,” stating, “The journalists who work for Sinclair Broadcast Group are hard-working and dedicated professionals who care deeply about the work that they do. Over the last couple of days, many of them have been the subject of misdirected criticism for the script Sinclair required them to read for its recent promotional campaign.”
The memo continues, “SAG-AFTRA has been in contact with Sinclair to express our concerns with this campaign, and we stand with our members and journalists everywhere in challenging corporate directives that call into question the journalistic integrity of the news presented to the public. SAG-AFTRA opposes such directives in the interest of defending the professionalism of journalists and preserving the basic rights of a free and independent press.”
