Sinclair Broadcast Group Begins Its Politicization Of Local D.C. News

From the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, the Sinclair Broadcast Group didn't waste any time politicizing local news in its new Washington, D.C., market:

Last week, for example, WJLA viewers woke up to a new face on the morning news: Mark Hyman, a veteran conservative pundit, who offered some criticism of President Obama. 

In his video commentary, Hyman railed against the inconsistent enforcement of a ban on travel to Cuba by Americans. Noting that the music stars Jay Z and Beyoncé had “partied up” in Havana last year without penalty, Hyman insinuated that Obama had protected the couple from prosecution. “It occurs to me that Beyoncé and Jay Z are close friends of the president and first lady,” said Hyman, adding sarcastically, “You don’t suppose . . . oh, never mind. He’d never do that.” 

Hyman’s critiques — which range from warning about the cost of Obamacare to advocating the abolition of the Transportation Security Administration — will be a regular feature on WJLA, just as they are on dozens of stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the new owner of ABC 7.

Sinclair (owned by the Smith family) has a track record of shilling for the Republican Party and right-wing views, as well as contributing heavily to Republican candidates. As the article points out,

On the eve of the 2012 election between Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, for example, Sinclair stations in several battlegrounds states aired a ­corporate-produced half-hour news “special” that criticized Obama’s handling of the economy, his signature health-care law and the administration’s management of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Romney’s record received less scrutiny. [snip] 

In 2004, Sinclair generated controversy when it considered airing a documentary attacking Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry’s military record just before the election. After complaints from Democrats and calls for an advertiser boycott, Sinclair backed down and ran a program that analysts said was more balanced. The company nevertheless fired its Washington bureau chief after he publicly said that plans to air the anti-Kerry film were “indefensible.”

The folks in the newsroom aren't happy that Sinclair is not only pushing a Republican agenda, but that they want to newsroom to "work for" the advertising-sales department (e.g., doing news tie-ins with corporate sponsors). The article concludes with a quote from Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity:

“I’d be nervous if I were working at WJLA right now,” said Charles Lewis , the founder of the investigative Center for Public Integrity in Washington and a communications professor at American University. “They are stuck with an idiosyncratic owner with its own political views and agenda. It’s a nightmarish scenario for journalists.”

Apparently, too, the Smiths hope to build a networked "local-national channel" that will give them an even greater megaphone to spread the news  Republican propaganda intertwined with local content.

That sound you hear is John Peter Zenger rotating in his grave.