Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center loves Sinclair Broadcast Group because it shares the MRC's right-wing media agenda. The love is felt so much, in fact, that an Aug. 9 MRC post by Aly Nielsen puts mention of Sinclair's editorial "agenda" in scare quotes as if to falsely suggest it doesn't actually exist. Then again, Nielsen is full Sinclair stenography mode:
Liberal journalists hate to be proven wrong. So they’re going to despise the latest video from Sinclair’s Mark Hyman that bashes Politico and other lefty outlets for sloppy reporting.
“Donald Trump's campaign struck a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group during the campaign to try and secure better media coverage,” claimed Politico. Turns out that wasn’t even close to the whole story. Sinclair offered to show Politico emails proving it offered the identical deal to the Clinton campaign, but Politico showed no interest.
“They’re either awfully incompetent or awfully dishonest,” said Hyman in a two-minute video.
Hyman -- and, thus, Nielsen -- are being awfully dishonest themselves. Hyman offers no evidence that Sinclair ever provided any balance to offset its pro-Trump coverage deal, and is silent on the fact that it still offers no balance to the right-wing commentary of Hyman and Boris Epshteyn. Nielsen, meanwhile, fails to mention that Sinclair's long history of right-wing bias proves the Clinton campaign correct in rejecting a purported deal.
Nielsen then complained that "The Politico piece was one of many attempts by liberal media outlets to attack Sinclair after it announced it purchased Tribune Media Co. for $3.9 billion. If approved, the May 8 purchase will add 42 new local stations, according to Bloomberg."
Nielsen doesn't mention that Sinclair's bias is playing a major role in the Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission approving a loophole in federal regulations -- in which looks like a quid pro quo -- to allow Sinclair to own more stations beyond the current cap that would permit the Tribune purchase.She also ignores that other conservative broadcasters, such as Newsmax TV, One America News Network and The Blaze, oppose the Sinclair-Tribune deal because it would eliminate diverse media voices.
Having omitted information that discredits her post, Nielsen is reduced to whining that critics were "opposing what they saw as conservative bias in the media" -- note that she won't admit the unambiguous fact that Sinclair's bias is real -- and that criticism of the Sinclair-Tribune deal "was hypocrisy at best, and censorship at worst."
Of course, "hypocrisy at best, and censorship at worst" is pretty much how the MRC operates.
