For the last few years, observers of politics and the media in the United States have cast a worried look at the influence of Sinclair Broadcasting Network. Infamously, in 2018 the network’s management requested that anchors across the country deliver an ominous-sounding speech about media bias.
This week, another Sinclair decision drew controversy: the broadcaster planned to air a segment as part of the show America This Week which would have given a platform to the creator of the Plandemic conspiracy theory video, Judy Mikovits. Plandemic was removed from YouTube and other video sites earlier this year for violating their policies.
A report from CNN suggested that the segment would make a particularly controversial assertion: that “Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top expert on infectious diseases, was responsible for the creation of the coronavirus.”
To say that the response to this report was controversial would be an understatement. And earlier today, Sinclair backed down from their initial plans to air the segment in its current form. At Variety, Brian Steinberg reports that the segment will be re-tooled in certain ways, based on a statement from the broadcaster.
“We will spend the coming days bringing together other viewpoints and provide additional context,” the Hunt Valley, Maryland, company said in a statement Saturday afternoon. “All stations have been notified not to air this and will instead be re-airing last week’s episode in its place.”
As the Variety report notes, Sinclair has a hand in 191 television stations across the country, whether as owner, operator or service provider. That’s a substantial reach — and it’s unsettling to think about what disinformation can do if it’s that widespread.
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