Weekly Low-Lights: The Worst of Sinclair’s “Must Runs”

Every week Allied Progress will share a selection of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s “Must Runs” segments. These are biased segments that Sinclair headquarters famously mandates all of their 191 stations run.

If Sinclair’s merger with Tribune is approved, a total of 233 stations – reaching 72 percent of American households – will be forced to air these segments every week.

Journalists at Sinclair object to their airing. Experts call them propaganda. Allied Progress watches them…so you don’t need to.

This week’s Sinclair Low-Lights…

Featured Low-Light: On September 28th, Mark Hyman tackled the big issue of the day: Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative. Hyman inexplicably thought now was a good time to claim that the healthy eating push was a failure. He goes on to cite, personal blogs and articles that clearly state that they are “NOT PEER-REVIEWED” as his scientific evidence.

Boris Epshteyn was also busy this week carrying the Trump administration’s water:

On Monday, Boris implored “elected officials need to stop grandstanding and come together to pass healthcare reform.”  But he wasn’t calling for bipartisan reform, he was blasting fellow Republicans for speaking out and failing to get in line.

On Tuesday, he touted Trump’s newest travel ban, claiming the much maligned executive order is a “nuanced approach to restricting travel to the U.S. which is directed only at those who threaten our safety.”

On Thursday morning, Boris interviewed RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel about the Alabama special election, and whether Republican incumbents should be worried about primary challengers for 2018. He also spent Thursday testifying in front of the House Intelligence Committee as part of their investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Sinclair barely covered Epshteyn’s testimony and he has refused to comment.

BONUS: While it’s not a “Must Run,” Sinclair did publish a piece with this headline on their station’s websites: The world is ending on September 23, according to a biblical prophecy.

The story cites as proof for the impeding apocalypse, “Bible verses which [a Christian numerologist] interprets to match the Great American Eclipse, Hurricane Harvey and flooding in Texas… [he] expects tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to occur after Nibiru crashes into earth.”

Happy Friday!

# # #

Allied Progress uses hard-hitting research and creative campaigns to stand up to Wall Street and powerful special interests and hold their allies in Congress and the White House accountable.

Close

SITE ARCHIVED

Allied Progress is now Accountable.US. This website will no longer be updated and has been permanently archived. For the latest accountability and transparency updates, please visit us at Accountable.US.