During the 2015-2016 election cycle, two-thirds of Sinclair PACs donations to candidates, or $54,000, went to Republicans: Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois and Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri received the biggest checks $5,000 each. Mckesson noticed this and retweeted a link to the story with the caption: I havent been anywhere near a bank robbery. David Zaslav, who led the merger with CNN and Discovery, donated over $240,000. Using the original ownership index, we tracked the political donations at 90 of the top U.S. news organizations. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Use the unsubscribe link in the emails we send to opt out at any time. The Washington Post reported in 2014 that Sinclair and its executives have been consistent financial contributors to Republican candidates. [The Washington Post, 9/16/14]. Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg fund swaths of lobbyists in Washington. OpenSecrets Following the money in politics. Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit OpenSecrets. He also said Sinclair stations all over the country reported that the FBI may have had a personal vendetta against Trumps former national security adviser Michael Flynn, aired anti-Clinton segments before the 2016 election, framed questions of the day for viewers in a pro-Trump fashion, and suggested issues regarding Islam somehow relate to terrorism. HBOs John Oliver Highlighted The Conservative Agenda Sinclair Pushes On Its Affiliates. The index wasmore popular than anticipated. Pamela Wasserstein, owner of Vox and New York magazine, gave $8,100. During 2017 and 2018, more than half of Fox PACs contributions to candidates went to Democrats, such as $9,000 to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; $5,750 to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. and $5,000 to Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn. In the past, Sinclair hasnt shied from using its TV stations to deliver clear political messages. Sinclair Broadcasting and Nexstar executives give to the National Association of Broadcasters. Eric Zinterhofer, board member of Univision, gave $102,000. The spokesman said the campaign also worked with other media outlets that had affiliates, like Hearst, to try and spread their message. A 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, charitable organization . And while most users found no faults with the story, they did notice that the accompanying photo that of civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson was not at all an accurate representation of the facts. In March 2018, Sinclair required all stations to air a video of local anchors reading a script decrying the "troubling trend . For After resigning from CBS, Attkisson published a book full of conservative myths that additionally claimed her work was stymied by the Obama administration and her CBS bosses and that the Obama administration hacked her electronics. HBO host John Oliver noted that Sinclair commentator Mark Hyman in must-run segments has pushed conservative commentary such as railing against snowflakes and claiming marriage solves domestic violence. The country's largest owner of local TV stations, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which reaches over a third of homes across the nation, wants to get even bigger by merging with the Tribune. 20005. Then, just days before the election, Sinclair aired parts of a documentary critical of the anti-Vietnam War activities of John Kerry, the Democratic nominee. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. CHARGE! Donations include 140,000 toys and truckloads of food and clothing for local communities BALTIMORE - Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) today announced the company's television stations and Bally Sports regional sports networks (RSNs) collected truckloads of items for local charities through regional holiday drives, with Sinclair's television stations and RSNs hosting local . Susan Wojcicki, a major donor to Wikipedia and CEO of YouTube,donated only $8,000through Google Netpac. The missive from Sinclair exec Amy connects Sinclairs policy preferences to the activities of the PAC, which sends contributions to politicians. What will Donald Trump offer the African American community better than Hillary Clinton can? And: He has talked a lot about job creation. TheCenter for Public Integrityis a nonprofit investigative news organization focused on inequality in the U.S. We do not accept advertising or charge people to read our work. Its a mess. Sinclair Cares utilizes the strength of Sinclairs properties to uplift organizations and inspire audiences and employees to make a positive impact in their communities. Full Measure is an award-winning, weekly national news program, focused on investigative, original, and accountability reporting. NEW . After yet another mass shooting, the national debate over gun policy renews. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. Epshteyn reliably parrots the White House's point of view on most issues. In exchange, Sinclair would broadcast their Trump interviews across the country without commentary, Kushner said. We also believe people can achieve their full potential when they enjoy their work, so it is our priority to provide a workplace where professional growth, success and advancement go hand-in-hand. Thank you. [1] Sinclairs owned/operated stations offer newsletters to provide breaking news and additional content from the community. In the last election cycle, the brothers donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican causes, including at least $6,000 from Frederick Smith to a super PAC supporting Mr. Trump and $20,000 from David Smith to the National Republican Congressional Committee. In the Lyon and Grenoble metropolitan areas, and the Haute-Savoie department, INRAE units contribute to research activities at the Lyon-Saint-Etienne, Grenoble-Alpes, and Savoie Mont Blanc . [The Daily Beast, 7/12/17]. Le Rgne Minral, 35, 5-23. A 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, charitable organization. We at KBOI are very sorry. [Heavy, 7/14/17]. For the 2016 election cycle, Sinclair's PAC made $82,375 in donations to federal candidates. This has most clearly come in election seasons, with stations being used to attack Democratic candidates or to boost Republicans: On the eve of the 2012 election between Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, for example, Sinclair stations in several battlegrounds states aired a corporate-produced half-hour news special that criticized Obamas handling of the economy, his signature health-care law and the administrations management of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. NewsON is the nations largest aggregator of local news content. Reporters and anchors employed by Sinclair did not receive this same request for funds. Transparency matters. But a vast majority of their money has been funneled to Republican causes, including the Republican National Committee and a Mitt Romney fund-raising committee in 2012, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. Politico later reported that Sinclairs vice president and director had donated to Gianforte the day after he was charged with assault. A Trump spokesman said the deal included the interviews running across every affiliate but that no money was exchanged between the network and the campaign. Sinclair Broadcast Group is asking top executives, including news directors, to make donations to its political action committee, an unusual move that is raising concerns among media ethics experts. 05/01/23 3:22 PM EDT, Article We believe in serving the communities where we live and work through meaningful connections, trusted reporting, and principled journalism.. Still, some do. His well-documented views were notsecret. Mr. Epshteyn was a surrogate and Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign, where he managed messaging. For more information, please see our Compulse is a marketing technology and managed services company built for local media and agencies. The network is known for featuring top conservatives, and hired former Trump spokesman Boris Epshteyn last year. TBD is the first multiscreen TV network to bring premium internet-first content to TV homes across America. Drive Auto is the automotive marketing division of Sinclair, offering advertising tools, technology, and expert marketing guidance for auto dealers of all sizes. 04/11/23 11:23 AM EDT, Article In May, I published anownership indexof the top 176 U.S. media organizations. Billionaire Paul Singer, who claimed, post the CNN-Discovery merger, that his activism brought the deal about, balanced things out with his $1.7 million. A well-placed source familiar with communications between KECI news director Julie Weindel and NBC News says that she was unyielding in her refusal to share any footage she may have had access to, or run a report on the incident. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, gave $500,000 mostly to Democrats. Mr. Obama has called Mr. Ayers somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old.. Our commitment to our viewers is to go beyond podium, beyond the rhetoric. For context, OpenSecrets reported that political spending in the 2020 election reached $14 billion, the most expensive election ever. White House to end COVID-19 vaccine requirement for international travelers, Adams rebukes Texas governor for targeting cities with Black mayors to bus asylum seekers, First Republic fallout: Democrats fume as regulators bail out yet another failed bank, Yellen says drop-dead date for debt ceiling is June 1, Hunter Biden appears in court for paternity case, Big birds are having fewer chicks as climate changes, AI chatbot outperforms human doctors in responding to patient questions, Who will replace Tucker Carlson at Fox News? We believe Sinclair Broadcast Groups people are our most important asset. Transparency is what journalists and journalism have long been about. I dont see how this ends well. The Sinclair executive referred in the email to unpopular deregulatory initiatives, undertaken by the Federal Communications Commission and chairman Ajit Pai in recent months. [M]uch of the reporting about Sinclair in recent months has been irresponsible and much of it is just plain false, Livingston wrote in the memo. Programming includesBuffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, SG-1, Outer Limits and Farscape. Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Free States mission is to provide the federal government, along with state and local agencies, a full suite of targeted digital marketing and advertising solutions to help government agencies communicate with the American public effectively and efficiently. {mosads}Please take the time to evaluate the importance that the Sinclair PAC can have towards benefiting our company and the needs of the industry as a whole, reads the solicitation letter fromDavid Amy, the vice chairman of Sinclair and chairman of the PAC. Sinclair stations aired five such interviews with Clinton running mate Tim Kaine and two with Chelsea Clinton but none with Clinton or another top surrogate. Were all about tracking the truth and telling the truth and thats typically missing in most political coverage.. Sinclair Media Networks (SMN) is the division of Sinclair that reaches the companys entire broadcast audience across its national footprint. There were no equivalent must-run stories examining Trumps refusal to release his medical or tax records or about questions surrounding his charitable foundation. Since its founding in 1971, the Sinclair Broadcast Group has come to own or operate nearly 200 television stations in some 100 markets covering more than 40 percent of American households. Edward Atsinger, a leading evangelical and co-founder of conservative Townhall Media,gave about $30,000. Sinclair gave a disproportionate amount of neutral or favorable coverage to Trump during the campaign while often casting Clinton in an unfavorable light. Washington, Media ethics experts slammed the request to the Post, with one journalism professor saying, Ive never seen anything like this. Such omissions suggest the existence of either journalistic incompetency or editorial bias. Heidi Legg is the lead research fellow at the Future of Media Project at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. Article President Trumps tweet dismissing opposition to Sinclairs destruction of local news shows how big media uses its money and power to influence our elected officials, said former FCC commissioner and Common Cause adviser, Michael Copps, in a statement. NEXTGEN Broadcast, also known as ATSC 3.0, offers innovative new features to enhance and expand your broadcast viewing experience. [HBO, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, 7/2/17]. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. Sinclair and its affiliates have a history of airing conservative-leaning reporting and commentary, and its executives have donated to Republicans and Republican causes. A Sinclair executive lashed out at criticism of Sinclair in an internal memo, according to Politico. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. See the details. [The New York Times, 5/3/17]. For example: Sinclair-owned stations and its Washington bureau scored 15 exclusive interviews with Trump over the past year, including 11 during the final three months of the campaign in critical states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio. Republicans received 64 percent of Comcast PACs contributions to candidates, or about $1.4 million. Participation is completely voluntary. For the 2016 election cycle, Sinclairs PAC made $82,375 in donations to federal candidates. It raises the question: Does super PAC funding, often with a hefty and opaque line-item labeled media spend,fund some of these outlets? Through an editorial edict, the company mandated anchors at its 193 local TV stations to . The reporter, who is also a correspondent for Attkissons show, asked a softball question about how Trumps philosophical differences with Trudeau would affect cooperation on trade and terrorism, instead of asking him about reports spreading at the time that then-national security adviser Michael Flynn may have violated federal law. In July, Sinclair announced it was increasing the must-run segments across its affiliates featuring former Trump White House official Boris Epshteyn to nine times a week, according to Politico. There is no corporate pressure to participate and no consequence for not participating. No surprise, Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan collectivelygave over $2.5 million, mostly to Republicans. The lack of transparency in super PAC donations loomed as we scoured the FEC database. Circa News, an online outlet bought by Sinclair in 2015, has become a favorite of Sean Hannity among other Fox News personalities, along with far-right troll Mike Cernovich and Donald Trump Jr., with what critics claim is a stealthy emphasis on right-leaning, Trump-friendly content, according to The Daily Beast. Democratic recipients included Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Dick Durbin of Illinois $2,500 each. Kushner highlighted that Sinclair, in states like Ohio, reaches a much wider audience around 250,000 listeners than networks like CNN, which reach somewhere around 30,000. [Politico, 7/18/17]. Charles Schumer of New York and Brian Schatz of Hawaii pocketed $10,000, the most the PAC could legally give. The Times noted that Fox News Channel and CNN declined to run the spot amid legal questions. From the August 27, 2008, article: As Senator Obamas campaign makes its argument for his candidacy before a national audience here this week, it is waging a separate, forceful campaign against a new conservative group running millions of dollars of ads linking him to the 1960s radical William Ayers Jr. Lawyers for the campaign have asked the Justice Department to investigate the group which is operating under rules governing non-profit corporations calling on television stations to cease airing the spot, and, campaign officials said, planning to pressure advertisers on stations that refuse to do so. Sinclair, either directly or through its venture subsidiaries, makes equity investments in strategic companies. Contributions by Source of Funds Sinclair Broadcast Group Affiliates i Cycle: 2020 Showing 1 to 3 of 3 entries Contributions to 527s are not included in the Individuals, PACs, Soft (Indivs), or Soft (Orgs) columns, so the sum of these columns may not equal the Total column. Get a weekly dive into inequality in America with our Watchdog newsletter delivered to your inbox. ; $10,000 to Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; and more than $7,000 to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., in 2017. Except for the Revolving Door section, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License by OpenSecrets.org. All Rights Reserved. Sens. Right-Leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group Solicits Political Donations. We recognize the vital role broadcast television plays in branding and local content delivery, and therefore strive to constantly be at the forefront of leading edge technology and structures to advance the industry. Sinclairis well known for its very political conservative actions and leanings, said Paul Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation for good governance group Common Cause. The outlet also noted that one of Circas reporters is a frequent guest on Hannity to discuss her blockbuster stories alleging various improprieties by former President Obamas national security adviser Susan Rice and fired FBI director James Comey, and casting doubt on rival media reports of possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia. From the July 12 article: In late 2015less than a year after that Wired [profile]Circa was purchased for an estimated $800,000 by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nations biggest owner of local television stations. Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. was founded in 1986, went public in 1995 and is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol SBGI. ", A viral video compilation of local TV anchors is raising new concerns about the way Sinclair Broadcast Group mixes news with conservative, partisan political opinion. Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, gave but $15,000over the past20 months through his PACs Blue Origin and Amazon while his net worth grew to near $200 billion. In the memo, Livingston lists several storylines that have emerged around the Maryland-based television company and provides what he said are facts proving them false. Time Warner, CNNs parent company, switches from donating to one side or the other: its PAC gave more money to federal-level Democrats during six out of past 10 election cycles. News stories and features favorable to Trump or that challenged Clinton were distributed to Sinclair stations on a must-run basis that is, the stations were required by managers in Washington to make room in their evening newscasts or morning programs for them. [Politico, 7/10/17], Sinclair Correspondent Was One Of Only Two Reporters Called On By Trump At February Press Conference. Common Cause is part of a coalition of groups that oppose Sinclairs pending acquisition of Tribune Media, which has been made possible by regulatory easing. Sinclair defended the promos as non-partisan and its chairman was defiant, calling criticism "nonsense." The company doubled down, yanking a $25,000 donation to the National Press Photographers. Even his wife, Clare Boothe Luce, herself a Republican member of Congress, chastised him publicly for his relentless coverage in Time of Barry Goldwaters GOP nomination for president. Even after the initial tweet was taken down, however, users began to come across other unrelated KBOI stories that shared this photo of McKesson at a protest rally. Sinclair has also been accused of imposing a top-down conservative editorial stance on its stations. And last year Politico reported that the Trump campaign struck an exclusive deal with Sinclair to broadcast interviews with Trump across all of its networks, an unprecedented arrangement. Our system is awash in billions of political dollars. Public Integrity doesnt have paywalls and doesnt accept advertising so that our investigative reporting can have the widest possible impact on addressing inequality in the U.S. Our work is possible thanks to support from people like you. 1996 - 2023 NewsHour Productions LLC. What does media constitute? Open Secrets following the money in politics, OpenSecrets Following the money in politics. The company had originally planned to air the documentary in full, The Times reported, but pressure from advertisers and shareholders led it to run only excerpts during a program on the election. Look up your friends and patriotsat the FEC. Marc Benioff, the current owner of Time who's, active in homelessness issues in San Francisco,gave only $5,000 to his Salesforce.com PAC. they actually represent two-year periods. If the medium controls the message, then we are asking these questions to make out your character, media owners. Dielectric is a designer and manufacturer of broadcast systems including all components from transmitteroutput to antenna. 05/01/23 11:08 AM EDT, Article Hilton Howell of Gray Television gave $17,600. and our Sinclair Broadcast Group is asking top executives, including news directors, to make donations to its political action committee, an unusual move that is raising concerns among media. The Sinclair reporter, along with the other conservative reporter Trump called on, were criticized by fellow journalists for not asking about Flynn. Saudi alfalfa sparks tension in Arizonas Sonoran Desert, Rice's departure brings relief to immigration advocates, Watch live: White House monkeypox response team holds briefing, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. *Based on data released by the Federal Election Commission on April 01, 2021 except for independent expenditure and communication cost, contributions to federal candidates, and contributions from individual donor data, which were released by the Federal Election Commission on March 22, 2021. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window). A Montana Sinclair Affiliate Did Not Air The Recording Of The Gianforte Assault, And ASinclair VP Donated To Him. We are an employer of choice in the broadcast industry. Tennis.comis the largest digitaloutletdedicated tothe sport. James Murdoch, who left the family Fox News business, donated over $2.25 million. The government needs to catch up and revamp how we track media money in politics. Sinclair Broadcast Group. A local Montana station bought by Sinclair in May refused to air audio of then-Republican Montana congressional candidate Greg Gianforte assaulting Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs, with its news director saying, The person that tweeted [Jacobs] and was allegedly body slammed is a reporter for a politically biased publication, according to New York magazine.
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