Sinclair Broadcasting Group, the nation's largest owner of TV stations, is asking some of its newsroom managers to contribute to its conservative-oriented political action committee, which some journalism ethics experts say is highly unusual and opens the door to an ethical breach.
Rebecca Hanson, Sinclair's senior vice president of strategy and policy, said the request for PAC funding wasn't unethical because it was only sent to newsroom managers, not reporters or anchors. The news directors "were solicited as a result of being part of our managerial level, not because of their role in editorial," Hanson told Paul Farhi of The Washington Post, and added that "participation is completely voluntary. There is no corporate pressure to participate and no consequence for not participating. It doesn’t put them in any ethical bind whatsoever."
But University of Wisconsin journalism professor and former TV news producer Lewis Friedland told Farhi that the request "violates every standard of conduct that has existed in newsrooms for the past 40 or 50 years" and said that news directors who donate are tacitly supporting the company's political agenda. "It would cause people to ask whether they’re being fair and balanced in their coverage," Friedland said. And news directors might feel pressured to contribute, and worry that refusal would be seen be company superiors as disloyal, Mark Feldstein, a broadcast journalism professor at the University of Maryland, told Farhi.
Sinclair owns 173 stations, and would grow with its pending $3.9 billion purchase of 42 owned or operated by Tribune Media. "The company is fighting to preserve an arcane rule adopted by the Republican-dominated Federal Communications Commission last year that effectively enabled it and other big media companies to buy more stations. If Congress were to restore the old limits, or if a pending court challenge succeeds, it could complicate Sinclair’s acquisition of Tribune," Farhi reports.
Sinclair has been criticized for partisan news coverage. In 2004 it wanted to air a documentary critical of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry the night before Election Day, but backed off after complaints. In 2012 it aired a half-hour news special critical of President Obama. In 2016 it reportedly ordered its stations to air news stories favorable to Donald Trump. In 2017 a Sinclair station in Montana refused to cover the story of U.S. Rep.-elect Greg Gianforte attacking a reporter, saying that he worked for a biased publication. And today, stations are told to air conservative commentaries from Sinclair executive Mark Hyman and former Trump aide Boris Epshteyn.
Rebecca Hanson, Sinclair's senior vice president of strategy and policy, said the request for PAC funding wasn't unethical because it was only sent to newsroom managers, not reporters or anchors. The news directors "were solicited as a result of being part of our managerial level, not because of their role in editorial," Hanson told Paul Farhi of The Washington Post, and added that "participation is completely voluntary. There is no corporate pressure to participate and no consequence for not participating. It doesn’t put them in any ethical bind whatsoever."
But University of Wisconsin journalism professor and former TV news producer Lewis Friedland told Farhi that the request "violates every standard of conduct that has existed in newsrooms for the past 40 or 50 years" and said that news directors who donate are tacitly supporting the company's political agenda. "It would cause people to ask whether they’re being fair and balanced in their coverage," Friedland said. And news directors might feel pressured to contribute, and worry that refusal would be seen be company superiors as disloyal, Mark Feldstein, a broadcast journalism professor at the University of Maryland, told Farhi.
Sinclair owns 173 stations, and would grow with its pending $3.9 billion purchase of 42 owned or operated by Tribune Media. "The company is fighting to preserve an arcane rule adopted by the Republican-dominated Federal Communications Commission last year that effectively enabled it and other big media companies to buy more stations. If Congress were to restore the old limits, or if a pending court challenge succeeds, it could complicate Sinclair’s acquisition of Tribune," Farhi reports.
Sinclair has been criticized for partisan news coverage. In 2004 it wanted to air a documentary critical of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry the night before Election Day, but backed off after complaints. In 2012 it aired a half-hour news special critical of President Obama. In 2016 it reportedly ordered its stations to air news stories favorable to Donald Trump. In 2017 a Sinclair station in Montana refused to cover the story of U.S. Rep.-elect Greg Gianforte attacking a reporter, saying that he worked for a biased publication. And today, stations are told to air conservative commentaries from Sinclair executive Mark Hyman and former Trump aide Boris Epshteyn.
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