Trump Just Retweeted A Video Of Sinclair's Local Anchors Reading Talking Points. Here's What You Need To Know About It

Update, 11/27/20: Today Donald Trump retweeted a video of a supercut of Sinclair's local news anchors reading from a pre-written script and claimed it was a sign that freedom of the press was gone and that the press refuses "to report the real facts and figures of the 2020 Election." Here's what you need to know about those Sinclair news segments and the history behind the 2-year-old video Trump retweeted.

04/02/18: In late March, Deadspin posted a disconcerting video that showed dozens of local TV news anchors reciting the same message about "one sided news stories plaguing our country," and "some media outlets" that "use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control 'exactly what people think'."

The video, which quickly went viral, documented local stations fulfilling orders from their owner Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of TV stations in the US, instructing them to make "must-run" segments about fake news. The segments, seemingly designed to undermine other news organizations, fit into a pattern of Sinclair promoting conservative, pro-Trump viewpoints through its networks.

Sinclair Has A History Of Requiring Local News Organizations To Run Pro-Trump Segments

Sinclair has repeatedly forced its local affiliates to run seemingly pro-Trump segments. One recurring "must-run" segment features opinions from Sinclair's vice president for corporate relations Mark Hyman. In one August segment, he blamed Obamacare increasing the mortality rate in the US (a claim that was not supported by the study he was referencing).

Another "must-run" series features Boris Epshteyn, who advised Trump's campaign and worked for Trump in the White House. In his series, Epshteyn offers "political analysis," including one segment where he called DACA "simply not constitutional," despite there being lengthy debate over that fact:

Sinclair stations also run a daily "Terrorism Alert Desk" segment, which reports on terror-related news. Terrorism has been a major rhetorical tool that the Trump administration has used to sell its immigration policies.

In July 2017, John Oliver pointed out in a 20-minute profile of Sinclair that the broadcasting company feeds identical, politically motivated scripts to newscasters for coverage that on the surface appears to be produced by the local station, but is actually coming from Sinclair's millennial network Circa. Oliver highlights political language used in a report on Michael Flynn to prove is point:

In 2014, The Washington Post reported on a Hyman segment that suggested that President Obama gave political favors to Jay-Z and Beyoncé. They also reported that after Washington's WJLA was acquired by Sinclair, they began partnering with the conservative Washington Times to begin airing a weekly segment highlighting "the most egregious examples of government waste, fraud and abuse," a segment that ended during the 2016 election.

Sinclair Partnered With The Trump Campaign

In December 2016, Trump's son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner revealed that the Trump campaign had a deal with Sinclair, allowing campaign access in exchange for Sinclair broadcastin more interviews with Trump:

Kushner said the agreement with Sinclair, which owns television stations across the country in many swing states and often packages news for their affiliates to run, gave them more access to Trump and the campaign, according to six people who heard his remarks.

In exchange, Sinclair would broadcast their Trump interviews across the country without commentary, Kushner said. Kushner highlighted that Sinclair, in states like Ohio, reaches a much wider audience — around 250,000 listeners — than networks like CNN, which reach somewhere around 30,000.

[Politico]

Sinclair says a similar offer was given to the Clinton campaign, but they declined.

During the 2016 election, Sinclair and its executives gave $300,000 to Republican candidates, compared to $120,000 to Democrats.

The Message Fits In With And Has Supported Trump's Attacks On Other Media Groups

While the "fake news" must-run segments aren't explicitly pro-Trump, they fit into the president's attacks on mainstream media outlets, which have proceeded at a nearly untrackable rate since he began his campaign.

After the segments went viral, Trump tweeted in support of Sinclair, connecting his own "fake news" message to theirs.

In the same meeting that Jared Kushner discussed the Trump campaign's partnership with Sinclair, he also criticized CNN, calling the network biased and claiming that it was no longer "moving the needle."

Sinclair Is Poised To Undergo A Major Merger Under Trump

Sinclair is currently awaiting approval on its merger with Tribune media, which would add 42 stations in major networks like New York and Chicago to its existing 193 TV stations. The Trump Administration controversially blocked a merger between AT&T and Time Warner, which owns CNN. An uncontested Sinclair-Tribune merger would no doubt raise questions about whether or not the mergers were approved based on the political leanings of their content.

The merger would give Sinclair a forum in 72% of US households, far surpassing the congressional cap of 39%. If it's approved, Sinclair's reach will only be allowed because President Trump's FCC Chairman Ajit Pai brought back a loophole that will keep many of Sinclair's stations from being counted.