The recent controversy surrounding a "fake news" message which was read, upon orders by Sinclair Broadcast Group management, by news anchors at amost all of its 190-plus TV stations, raises the question --- for the umpteenth time --- about bias in journalism.
Short answer: it exists. In too many cases, it leans leftward.
In my previous life as writer-photographer-ad salesman for two weekly papers in Orange County, NY (one of them was an "urban" paper, The Hudson Valley Black Press), I was ordered on at least one occasion to slant my stories in support of the minority (non-white) viewpoint.
He claimed that white-owned mainstream media companies slanted their reportage against minorities.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I was threatened eith my job for disagreeing with the publisher over race-based hiring quotas (a.k.a.: affrimative action).
So, after seven months, and much contemplation, I left that organization.
No money or career advancement opportunities were involved.
Just my conscience.
Could the same be said of CNN's alleged reporter Brian Stelter, who allowed gun-confiscation crusader-de jour David Hogg to lie about mass-shootings and gun control during a recent interview (http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/27/brian-stelter-david-hogg/)?
Could the same be said of other CNN personailities, or those who play their trade at MSNBC?
Could the same be said of those who read the scripted message sent by Sinclair management?
Longtime TV-13 reporters Doug Emblidge and Norma Holland could have refused to read the script and resigned.
By the way, the video is till on the web.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHfgU8oMSo
In case you don't want to hear the Greek Chrorus, here's the script.
"Hi, I'm(A) ____________, and I'm (B) _________________...
(B) Our greatest responsibility is to serve our __________ communities. We are extremely proud of the quality, balanced journalism that _________ News produces.
(A) But we're concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.
(B) More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories... stories that just aren't true, without checking facts first.
(A) Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control 'exactly what people think'...This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.
(B) At ___________, it's our responsibility to pursue and report the truth. We understand Truth is neither politically 'left nor right.' Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.
(A) But we are human and sometimes our reporting might fall short. If you believe our coverage is unfair please reach out to us by going to ____________mews.com and clicking on CONTENT CONCERNS. We value your comments. We will respond back to you.
(B) We work very hard to seek the truth and strive to be fair, balanced and factual... We consider it our honor, our privilege to responsibly deliver the news every day.
(A) Thank you for watching and we appreciate your feedback"
Had they left, there would have been no doubt that WHAM-TV's competitors would have been knocking on their doors, contract offers in hand, knowing someone with Holland and Embdlidge's following could have meant increased ratings and advertising revenues for their prime newscats.
Instead, they became members of a pity-party thrown by at least two other media watchdogs (?), Gannett Rocherter's David Andreatta .....
(https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/local/columnists/andreatta/2018/04/02/andreatta-news-anchors-doug-emblidge-norma-holland-held-hostage/479225002/)
..... and local-shock-jock Alan "Brother Wease" Levin,
.... for whom Emblidge reads the news every morning on-air (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/471-Brother-Wease-Show-28229881/episode/rip-steven-bochco-doug-emblidge-news-29132318/. The sobbing begins at 29:07).
Andreatta wrote, "What would you have done? Ask yourself honestly, critics. Given my position in life — raising two young children, paying down a mortgage — I believe I would have read it and afterward promptly begun looking for new work.
Don't expect him to freshen up his resume, anytime soon.
Bob Lonsberry, ....
.... WHAM-1180 AM's pseudo-conservative talk-show host had a similar issue back in 2003, during that year's race for Monroe County Executive.
He said on-air, "a monkey's loose up at the zoo again -- and he's running for county executive."
No mention was mad of then-Mayor Bill Johnson, whom civil-rights busy-bodies asserted, was the target of the joke.
It was a reflection of what Lonsberry saw as the apparent incompetency of the candidiates who ran.
Nevertheless, local managers at Clear Channel (now IHeart Media), threw Lonsberry under the bus and ran over him.
A company press release read, "although Mr. Lonsberry expressed a willingness to change, it became obvious to us that he is not embracing diversity."
Ratings for his time-slot dropped for over a year, until managers begged Lonsberry to return, provided he undergo programming (a.k.a.: sensitivity training).
He groveled, took the money, and ran.
Since his return, Lonsberry has never been, nor will be, the same. At least, until he leaves WHAM-1180.
Don't hold your breath.
Sinclair's managers were in their right to inform its audience of the "fake news" problem.
Go to Accuracy in Media (aim.org), or Media Research Center (mrc.org), for starters, and you'll learn about how left-wingers influence broadcast news.
Left-wingers have controlled what people read, hear and see for decades until then rise of conservative media personalities like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, and organizations like FOX News and Newsmax, over the last 30 years.
Sinclair is in the process of purchasing Tribune Media's 42 TV stations, pending approval from federal regulators.
Under the plan submitted to the FCC last month, Sinclair said it would sell WPIX-TV in New York to Cunningham Broadcasting Corp. for $15 million, and WGN-TV in Chicago to Atlantic Capital Group Chairman and founder Steven Fader for $60 million.
Under the terms of the agreement Sinclair put forth to the FCC, Sinclair would operate the spun-off stations as if they were its own. However, Sinclair wouldn’t be the licensee, meaning it would be in compliance with the FCC’s ownership rules that limit how much of the country one broadcaster can reach. Besides handling advertising sales, Sinclair would also be involved in local news coverage.
Regulators, Senators and Representatives, as well as a host of "legacy" media types (performers executives, managers. etc.) do not want Sinclair to expand its media footprint, because they do not want those in the media who conservative viewponints to enjoy greater audience reach than they already have.
Their jealousy has only been heightened, now that Sinclair's managers have said something.
There's money, there's journalistic integrity, and there are views, involved in this battle.
Don't expect it to end, anytime soon.
As for the pity-parties, go somewhere else.
----- April 15, 2018.
Short answer: it exists. In too many cases, it leans leftward.
In my previous life as writer-photographer-ad salesman for two weekly papers in Orange County, NY (one of them was an "urban" paper, The Hudson Valley Black Press), I was ordered on at least one occasion to slant my stories in support of the minority (non-white) viewpoint.
He claimed that white-owned mainstream media companies slanted their reportage against minorities.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I was threatened eith my job for disagreeing with the publisher over race-based hiring quotas (a.k.a.: affrimative action).
So, after seven months, and much contemplation, I left that organization.
No money or career advancement opportunities were involved.
Just my conscience.
Could the same be said of CNN's alleged reporter Brian Stelter, who allowed gun-confiscation crusader-de jour David Hogg to lie about mass-shootings and gun control during a recent interview (http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/27/brian-stelter-david-hogg/)?
Could the same be said of other CNN personailities, or those who play their trade at MSNBC?
Could the same be said of those who read the scripted message sent by Sinclair management?
Longtime TV-13 reporters Doug Emblidge and Norma Holland could have refused to read the script and resigned.
By the way, the video is till on the web.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHfgU8oMSo
In case you don't want to hear the Greek Chrorus, here's the script.
"Hi, I'm(A) ____________, and I'm (B) _________________...
(B) Our greatest responsibility is to serve our __________ communities. We are extremely proud of the quality, balanced journalism that _________ News produces.
(A) But we're concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.
(B) More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories... stories that just aren't true, without checking facts first.
(A) Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control 'exactly what people think'...This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.
(B) At ___________, it's our responsibility to pursue and report the truth. We understand Truth is neither politically 'left nor right.' Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.
(A) But we are human and sometimes our reporting might fall short. If you believe our coverage is unfair please reach out to us by going to ____________mews.com and clicking on CONTENT CONCERNS. We value your comments. We will respond back to you.
(B) We work very hard to seek the truth and strive to be fair, balanced and factual... We consider it our honor, our privilege to responsibly deliver the news every day.
(A) Thank you for watching and we appreciate your feedback"
Had they left, there would have been no doubt that WHAM-TV's competitors would have been knocking on their doors, contract offers in hand, knowing someone with Holland and Embdlidge's following could have meant increased ratings and advertising revenues for their prime newscats.
Instead, they became members of a pity-party thrown by at least two other media watchdogs (?), Gannett Rocherter's David Andreatta .....
(https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/local/columnists/andreatta/2018/04/02/andreatta-news-anchors-doug-emblidge-norma-holland-held-hostage/479225002/)
..... and local-shock-jock Alan "Brother Wease" Levin,
.... for whom Emblidge reads the news every morning on-air (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/471-Brother-Wease-Show-28229881/episode/rip-steven-bochco-doug-emblidge-news-29132318/. The sobbing begins at 29:07).
Andreatta wrote, "What would you have done? Ask yourself honestly, critics. Given my position in life — raising two young children, paying down a mortgage — I believe I would have read it and afterward promptly begun looking for new work.
Don't expect him to freshen up his resume, anytime soon.
Bob Lonsberry, ....
.... WHAM-1180 AM's pseudo-conservative talk-show host had a similar issue back in 2003, during that year's race for Monroe County Executive.
He said on-air, "a monkey's loose up at the zoo again -- and he's running for county executive."
No mention was mad of then-Mayor Bill Johnson, whom civil-rights busy-bodies asserted, was the target of the joke.
It was a reflection of what Lonsberry saw as the apparent incompetency of the candidiates who ran.
Nevertheless, local managers at Clear Channel (now IHeart Media), threw Lonsberry under the bus and ran over him.
A company press release read, "although Mr. Lonsberry expressed a willingness to change, it became obvious to us that he is not embracing diversity."
Ratings for his time-slot dropped for over a year, until managers begged Lonsberry to return, provided he undergo programming (a.k.a.: sensitivity training).
He groveled, took the money, and ran.
Since his return, Lonsberry has never been, nor will be, the same. At least, until he leaves WHAM-1180.
Don't hold your breath.
Sinclair's managers were in their right to inform its audience of the "fake news" problem.
Go to Accuracy in Media (aim.org), or Media Research Center (mrc.org), for starters, and you'll learn about how left-wingers influence broadcast news.
Left-wingers have controlled what people read, hear and see for decades until then rise of conservative media personalities like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, and organizations like FOX News and Newsmax, over the last 30 years.
Sinclair is in the process of purchasing Tribune Media's 42 TV stations, pending approval from federal regulators.
Under the plan submitted to the FCC last month, Sinclair said it would sell WPIX-TV in New York to Cunningham Broadcasting Corp. for $15 million, and WGN-TV in Chicago to Atlantic Capital Group Chairman and founder Steven Fader for $60 million.
Under the terms of the agreement Sinclair put forth to the FCC, Sinclair would operate the spun-off stations as if they were its own. However, Sinclair wouldn’t be the licensee, meaning it would be in compliance with the FCC’s ownership rules that limit how much of the country one broadcaster can reach. Besides handling advertising sales, Sinclair would also be involved in local news coverage.
Regulators, Senators and Representatives, as well as a host of "legacy" media types (performers executives, managers. etc.) do not want Sinclair to expand its media footprint, because they do not want those in the media who conservative viewponints to enjoy greater audience reach than they already have.
Their jealousy has only been heightened, now that Sinclair's managers have said something.
There's money, there's journalistic integrity, and there are views, involved in this battle.
Don't expect it to end, anytime soon.
As for the pity-parties, go somewhere else.
----- April 15, 2018.
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