Posted on 01/28/2004 8:43:37 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
One of the nation’s newest and fastest-growing TV news networks says it's tired of left-leaning news reporting and wants to offer Americans a fair and balanced perspective, just as Fox News Channel does. Fox News eschewed politically correct news to become the dominant force on cable news. And now the Sinclair Broadcast Group has been following in Fox's footsteps to do the same for broadcast news in news markets across the nation. The Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG) is the eighth-largest network of television stations, based on revenues, and the nation's largest independent group owner of stations, according to Broadcasting & Cable. Headquartered in the suburbs of Baltimore, it owns or manages 62 television stations in 39 markets - giving the network coverage of 25 percent of the nation's television audience. News Central In October 2002, the network created a news feed for its stations and affiliates called "News Central" – a 17 minute national and international news report. Anchored by veteran TV news journalist Morris Jones, the News Central is part of the local news program for many of Sinclair's stations. One version of the feed is tailored to a one-hour newscast and another fits a 30-minute program, either of which stations can carry, depending on their preferences. The Sinclair affiliates break seamlessly from local news anchors to News Central for Jones' rundown of the significant national and world events, then return to local news. The integration of the local and national news program is the brainchild of Sinclair CEO David D. Smith. The integrated package allows Sinclair to deliver a single punch of national news, gives local stations flexibility to cover their community news - and saves money. Instead of each station having to package national and international news, it is done once, in Sinclair's national headquarters. Currently, 14 SBG stations carry the News Central package. Another 23 use a closed-circuit feed of direct reports from worldwide hot spots and work them into their regular locally anchored news programming. In addition, within the next three years, News Central is set to roll out its twice-nightly package to an additional 25 stations - for a total of 62 outlets owned or managed by Sinclair that will be broadcasting the national news feed. Millions of Viewers, Lots of Heat Sinclair describes its format as a "revolutionary news mode [that] will allow SBG to build its local news franchise and local market share by introducing local news programming in markets that otherwise could not support news." The broadcast operation reaches nearly 5 million viewers each night, an audience that surpasses even Fox and CNN. And just like Fox News, Sinclair's News Central is getting some heat from some establishment media outlets for offering a more balanced and less liberal-leaning news report. Sinclair relishes the criticism. "Basically, [we're] in the red states," says Sinclair's Vice President for Corporate Affairs Mark Hyman in a NewsMax interview, referring to the markets SBG serves -- mostly in "red" states George Bush won in the 2000 election. Hyman also appears on News Central seven nights a week, offering commentaries on current affairs. Additionally, the evening lineup includes a segment from Sinclair's Washington bureau titled "Truth, Lies and Red Tape," which features stories that Hyman says "nobody else is telling ... the stories that Brokaw, Rather, Jennings and Aaron Brown don't want viewers to hear." One example is an interview of Al Sharpton by News Central commentator Armstrong Williams, wherein the presidential hopeful stated that Senate Democrats should stop their filibuster and give President Bush's judicial nominees a straight up-or-down vote. The Sharpton remark made national headlines. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., put out a press release saying that Sharpton had retracted the comment. When Sinclair asked Sharpton, however, he denied having changed his mind and again called on his fellow Democrats to halt the filibuster. Sinclair scored a major scoop a few weeks ago in an interview with Vice President Cheney. Next month, Hyman leads a crew of five for two weeks in Iraq. Sinclair TV cameras will visit up to a dozen cities throughout that troubled nation. A New Vision for News Hyman says with some glee that Sinclair stations are "not in the Hamptons, not in the regions of the cultural elite who look down on the 'little people.' " Thus, he suggests, Sinclair is fulfilling a demand in flyover country for a fresh perspective on the news. "I think that is good for us because the folks who live in the red sections of the country are the ones most starved for a balanced newscast," he adds. Sinclair's approach doesn't sit well with everyone. In May, the Washington Post criticized Sinclair's approach to news, implying that it was removing coverage from local news markets and creating an "Orwellian" news feed from its News Central. Sinclair does in fact allow its local stations to produce their local news segments. It's just the national feed that is produced at News Central. Hyman says he wrote a letter to the editor of the Post complaining of inaccuracies, but the paper refused to print it. So much for the mainstream media's "fairness." Sinclair was also featured in a PBS story Dec. 11. Though the broadcaster expected that PBS "would not do a balanced piece," Hyman said, nonetheless Sinclair opened up its doors to PBS reporters When the PBS story aired on "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer," it was predictably critical. For example, the report took exception to Hyman's daily commentary on News Central and featured a journalism professor complaining that the "right-wing" slot did not offer an "alternative viewpoint." "I am the alternative viewpoint," Hyman said, noting the overwhelming bias of the major media. His appearances are clearly marked "commentary" during his 90-second segment, he noted. Others in the major press editorialize in their reporting, he says. "They just embed their viewpoint in the stories they select and the stories they don't select, and how they present it." Hyman says viewer reaction is overwhelmingly positive toward News Central. As for "alternative viewpoints," the program's Saturday "Mailbag" segment tilts about 80/20 in favor of e-mails from viewers who disagree with his comments. "I can't remember when Dan Rather or Peter Jennings ran a piece from their viewers saying, 'I disagree with you because of what you said. ' " As Hyman puts it, "The left's real beef is who controls the microphone. We're not liberal. We're not providing a slanted view. And that's what really angers them." Sinclair CEO David Smith echoed that sentiment, telling the Washington Post that his aim is to offer a "fair and balanced" news program, something missing on the major network news programs. "Our objective is to tell the story in the most truthful and honest way possible," he said, adding, "There will be no spin."
The government wants to sell the bandwidth thats saved
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