Trump Tweet Supporting Sinclair Won't Affect Deal, Industry Officials Say
President Donald Trump tweeted in support of Sinclair Monday after the company was widely criticized for requiring anchors to read a script condemning fake news. “So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased,” Trump tweeted. “Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.”
Common Cause, Free Press and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, condemned Sinclair's buying Tribune and Sinclair’s policy of dictating content to its local newsrooms. Industry officials on both sides of the issue said Trump’s tweet and the uproar should be immaterial to the deal’s chances. “Trump saying he likes Sinclair isn’t news, and neither is Sinclair taking a pro-Trump position,” said University of Minnesota School of Journalism assistant professor-media law Christopher Terry, who opposes the transaction. The FCC’s shot clock for the deal remains paused. Industry officials said a new amendment to the deal could come soon.
A supercut of Sinclair anchors on different stations all over the U.S. giving the same scripted remarks, edited by Deadspin so they seemed to be speaking in unison was widely shared online Monday and over the weekend, and is seen as the cause of Monday’s attention on the deal. In a tweet Sunday, Schatz said it was “a fact” that if a large station group owned by philanthropist and Democratic activist George Soros had ordered local newsrooms to read scripted remarks, Republicans would have “combusted.”
“We aren’t sure of the motivation for the criticism, but find it curious that we would be attacked for asking our news people to remind their audiences that unsubstantiated stories exist on social media,” said Sinclair Senior Vice President-News Scott Livingston in a statement. “It is ironic that we would be attacked for messages promoting our journalistic initiative for fair and objective reporting, and for specifically asking the public to hold our newsrooms accountable.” The scripted remarks were a promotional announcement for local news, and a response to “the public’s distrust in news generally,” the company said. “The promos served no political agenda.”
Trump shouldn’t tweet about upcoming transactions, Free State Foundation President Randolph May emailed. Opposition to the Sinclair deal seems based on the group's conservative leanings rather “than on any reasoned analysis of the media marketplace and the abundance of diverse views,” he said. “I don’t like to see anyone -- from either the left or right -- urge that government actions be based on the content of a media outlet’s programing.”
Sinclair has the right to editorialize, but its deal proposal is a threat to the Republican Party and Trump’s re-election, said Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, an opponent of Sinclair’s transaction with Tribune. Left-leaning broadcast networks will follow Sinclair’s lead and do away with the diversity of local press if the deal is approved, Ruddy said. The FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai “has acted like a subsidiary to Sinclair” by paving the way with rule changes such as eliminating the UHF discount, Ruddy said.
“President Trump’s tweet dismissing opposition to Sinclair’s destruction of local news shows how big media uses its money and power to influence our elected officials,” said a statement from former Commissioner Michael Copps, now with Common Cause. “This Trump-Sinclair love affair looks like a quid pro quo -- and it should be a national scandal," said Free Press President Craig Aaron.
Trump’s support for Sinclair -- and attacks on CNN and NBC -- won’t help or hurt the Tribune transaction, Terry said. “There’s enough scrutiny on the deal that it won’t matter,” he said, conceding the recent uproar could possibly influence some legislators. The size of the combined Sinclair/Tribune is a regulatory hurdle that could affect the deal’s outcome, he said.