Dan Rather Has Scathing Words For Sinclair News Anchors Reading 'Propaganda'
Renowned former CBS news anchor Dan Rather chimed in on the disturbing story that Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of more than 170 U.S. TV stations, had forced its local news outlets to read the same script decrying “false news.”
“News anchors looking into camera and reading a script handed down by a corporate overlord, words meant to obscure the truth not elucidate it, isn’t journalism,” Rather tweeted on Monday. He went on to call the practice “Orwellian” and “propaganda.”
News anchors looking into camera and reading a script handed down by a corporate overlord, words meant to obscure the truth not elucidate it, isn't journalism. It's propaganda. It's Orwellian. A slippery slope to how despots wrest power, silence dissent, and oppress the masses.
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) April 2, 2018
Sinclair came under fire over the weekend after Deadspin released this video, which splices together dozens of the company’s local affiliates reading from the same anti-“false news” script.
How America's largest local TV owner turned its news anchors into soldiers in Trump's war on the media: https://t.co/iLVtKRQycL pic.twitter.com/dMdSGellH3
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) March 31, 2018
Sinclair, in turn, released a lengthy memo to its newsrooms across the country saying, “There is a lot of noise out there about our company right now, and what is lacking in that analysis is something we constantly preach: context and perspective.”
The memo, written by Sinclair Senior Vice President Scott Livingston, then lists a number of accomplishments by the group’s various newsrooms.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
