Stop Yelling at Sinclair’s Anchors
The greatest trick the devil has ever used is to convince you to yell at his co-workers. The Sinclair Broadcast Group recently got news anchors on its 173 local TV stations to recite a script full of Trump-friendly theses about fake news and biased media. The story exploded last week when Deadspin (one of Lifehacker’s sister sites) posted a terrifying compilation of anchors reading a message in sync . And the public relieves the anger … by anchors. This is exactly what Sinclair wants from you.
Anonymous host Sinclair writes on HuffPost about the abuse he has received :
We received about 60 letters – letters of hate – yesterday, dozens of phone calls, people shouted at us profanity. People shout at me, saying that I am a zombie, that I am soulless, that I have sold my honesty, which is unpleasant to hear. So yeah, it sucks.
What else sucks, the host writes, is that people are demanding that they quit smoking in protest, because people have no idea that refusing will ruin the lives of the hosts:
These jobs are very difficult to find. And if I quit, I owe the company 40 percent of my salary, plus a percentage of the [revised] years remaining on my contract, plus any bonuses they paid me and any refunds they paid me. And they’re going to sue me for that. And while I’m in court, I can’t get a job.
This article may sound defensive, but it’s a compelling argument. Sinclair’s executives, who are trying to buy Tribune Media to further control local news and need federal approval, have forced their anchors to strike at their own industry, knowing it could ruin the lives of anyone who refuses, and has made everyone blame the anchors.
Where did people get this idea? If they really read the news of this scandal, they would see that the corporation is to blame. When CNN published Sinclair’s story in March, he quoted the hosts who hated the exercise: “I felt like a POW recording a message,” one of the hosts said. “On my site, it was uncomfortable for everyone to do this,” said another. Deadspin said they look “like hostages in proof-of-life videos, struggling to spit out words that attack the industry they’ve chosen as their calling in life.” A KOMO employee told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer , “This is definitely a forced move.” (Think Progress, which produced its own viral video of massive recitations , echoed this quote.)
Some Sinclair employees may agree with this message, but the overall internal reaction was disappointment and anxiety. Even if the local staff supported this message, the whole point of this story is that it is still not their call .
Tweeting at a local station is like yelling at a Wal-Mart employee about company policy. You ruin the day for someone who might be on your side, and pretend that you have dealt some kind of blow to a corporation that does not know about your existence. If you want to fight Sinclair’s growing media power, do as the anonymous presenter of HuffPost says:
If you want to change something, lobby your legislators to stop the Tribune deal, because that’s what’s dangerous about it. It is dangerous for any company to own as many stations as Sinclair. Healthy competition is good.
Talk to your legislator about this. Here’s what really matters. Hate tweeting me? It does not matter.
Calling your representatives works. No, really, it works , sometimes even with this monster parade of administration. Do not yell at a subordinate representative on the phone. Politely tell the person on the phone that the more powerful Sinclair is the less free America. And use this scandal as evidence. Avoid promiscuous rage and settle for, I don’t know, smug satisfaction.