This week’s Mainstream Media Scream features a regular, the MSNBC Morning Joe crew, this time feigning outrage at the growing Sinclair TV group and the commentary warning of “one sided news stories plaguing our country” they had local anchors read.
Joe Scarborough cited “all of the false information coming out of the White House” and how he saw “an ally of the president using a lot of local news stations to run a propaganda clip.” Co-host Mika Brzezinski called it “frightening” before guest Jon Meacham, the former editor of the once thriving Newsweek, denounced it as “beyond chilling.”
Scarborough tarred Sinclair as “America’s new Pravda.”
From the Monday, April 2, 2018 Morning Joe on MSNBC:
JOE SCARBOROUGH: “This weekend I was struck by all of the false information coming out of the White House, it seemed like a more steady pace. And then, on top of that, I actually saw an ally of the president using a lot of local news stations to run a propaganda clip. So here you have an entire broadcasting system running a propaganda clip.”
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: “It’s pretty frightening.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Attacking news agencies while the president himself was running a lot of fake news stories.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Well, and I find the anchors to be frightening, too, that they did this….The broadcaster is known for pushing a conservative platform and mandating must-run commentary. Over the past week or so, anchors nationwide were required to read from the script, not their own commentary, the commentary of their company as this mash-up from Deadspin illustrates the results are chilling.”
BRZEZINSKI, picking up on line from the Sinclair anchor video: : “This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.”
SCARBOROUGH: “A national broadcasting system that is shoving propaganda down local anchor’s throats, straight from the pen of somebody who’s a Trump acolyte is really, really chilling.”
JON MEACHAM: “It’s kind of beyond chilling, right? It’s state media, essentially….”
…..
SCARBOROUGH: “You combine this with Donald Trump attacking actually respectable news outlets that actually fight hard everyday to get it right, while Donald Trump in his White House and his allies are churning up their own fake news. They’re lying to the American people throughout the weekend, over the past year, year and a half. But they’re trying to discredit those who are actually calling them out on their lies and now they’re using an entire broadcast system, and I’m not sure who advertises on these stations, but they’re basically advertising for America’s new Pravda.”
Media Research Center Vice President of Research Brent Baker explains our weekly pick: “Pot, meet kettle. What clueless chutzpah. ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS all reach near 100 percent of American households and MSNBC can be seen in just about every home with cable. They all deliver uniform messages while Sinclair reaches only 40 percent of households, and yet it is Sinclair which so frightens Joe and Mika? Why are they so afraid of journalists wanting to eliminate fake news?”
Rating: Five out of five screams.
