NEW::Nick Clooney, former WKRC Local 12 presenter, of Sinclair: “I have no idea what these people do for a living, but it’s not news.”
Cincinnati city council, PG Sittenfeld, says it won’t watch Channel 12 after a controversial video showing Channel 12 anchors – and anchors across the country – reading an identical script from parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group.
“Creepy, cultic and much too propagandistic for my taste,” tweeted the Democrat over the weekend. “As I said, I love many of the individual employees of Channel 12 – but the direction of their property, @WeAreSinclair, is deeply troubling and will prevent me from supporting their revenue streams by being a viewer.”
If you’ve been around on social media lately, you’ve likely seen the Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Anchors video on local television reading the same prepared speech about “false news”.
More:Sinclair defends himself from riot after local news anchors read the “false news” screed
Sinclair is the country’s largest broadcaster, owning or operating 193 stations – including Cincinnati’s WKRC Local 12. The stitched video showed Local 12 anchors Rob Braun and Cammie Dierking.
Channel 12 did not respond to a request for comment.
As the New York Times reported:
Despite being the largest broadcaster in the country, Sinclair is not a household name and viewers may not know who their local news channel belongs to. Critics have accused the company of using its stations to advance a mostly right-wing agenda. …
Sinclair regularly broadcasts video segments to the stations that it owns. These are known as “must-runs” and may include content such as terrorism news updates, commentators speaking in support of President Trump …
Read a copy of the full script here
Some members of the Greater Cincinnati Politics Facebook group called for a boycott of Sinclair.
President Trump himself tweeted about the controversy on Monday, defending Sinclair.
A look at the WKRC website reveals that Trump fans are unlikely to cheer, including “Pornstar Stormy Daniels Says She Was Warned To Be Silent About Trump” and “AP Fact Check: Trump Deviates From Reality On The Wall, Amazon “.
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