Dan Rather puts the "attacks" on Sinclair into perspective

[Miles Archer]

https://www.facebook.com/theDanRather/posts/10160239588295716

Let's be clear, news anchors looking into camera and reading a script handed down by a corporate overlord, a script meant to obscure the truth not elucidate it, isn't journalism. It's propaganda. It's Orwellian. And it is on a slippery slope towards some of history's most destructive forces. These are the means by which despots wrest power, silence dissent, and oppress the masses.

To those who say this rhetoric is hyperbolic, I submit that attacking the press as honest brokers of information has been one of the constants of this Administration and all those who normalize it. But this is not normal. This is not how the freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, that beloved First Amendment, is supposed to operate.

Many of you by now have seen the video mashup of news employees on Sinclair-owned TV stations delivering the same talking points to their viewers. For those who haven't, I have included the link in the comments section below. And a big tip of the Stetson to Timothy Burke, the video director at Deadspin, who edited the string of video clips into a powerful sequence that puts the dangers of our time into visceral relief.

The faces of the men and women you see delivering this chilling message are befitting those of a hostage video. Maybe some of these local anchors took to it with gusto, but I believe that number is few. That's not why people are drawn to journalism. And maybe you will say that they should have refused or even resigned in protest, but I know that one can grasp in desperation for rationalizations and compromise when one feels their livelihood is at risk. That is the bet that Sinclair and its allies in media and government are betting on - that they can chip away, with small strikes of the chisel, at the bedrock of American democracy. I suspect that the vast majority of the journalists you see in this video want to be in an environment where they can do their jobs, reporting the news fairly, without favor or bias. They need our support.

That is why it is incumbent for Americans of all political persuasions to say this is intolerable. Congress should hold hearings and call the executives of Sinclair to account, but one suspects that is highly unlikely in the current political environment. Will this spur citizens to elect representatives who recognize that this is a clear and present danger? Will enough people be outraged to bombard stations, and advertisors, with letters, phone calls, and tweets to suggest this is unacceptable?

For now, Sinclair is trying to explain away the controversy, and they have a powerful ally in the President. But as we saw with the advertisers bailing en masse from Laura Ingraham's Fox News show after she attacked a Parkland High School student activist in a Tweet, the voice of the people still matters. If enough people speak, they cannot be ignored.

A free and independent press must be part of #WhatUnitesUs

[spanone]

1. K&R... Without a free and independent press democracy is dead.

[lark]

18. Exactly why drumpf is doing this.

He's trying to change us into a state run oligarchy like Russia where ordinary people have a hard time surviving, little food at enormous cost of time and $ to obtain, decrepit housing, no rights, no benefits, just work, drink heavily and die young. That is what Putin's puppet is trying to implement here with russian repugs help. They are truly out to destroy us and our once great democracy.

[Hortensis]

21. Well, much is coming out now that went on for 30 years,

building to this point. Three years ago almost no one had heard of the Kochs and their alliance, and only cranks worried about impending fascist takeover and that was mostly for the wrong reasons.

It's scary, but we're in a far better position now with these wakeup calls than we were even two years ago. This is an extremely dangerous time for the subversives who've been plotting to take over and restructure our nation, with our help of course. Because now we know.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. Howard DEan is not president because on Chris Matthews college tour hardball during

the campaign he announced if elected he would reverse course on our media ownership rules or lack thereof and it was what, a week later the NON scream happened and ruined his career, two weeks later?

In the end there is no bigger issue than the free press and we are losing it, I think we cant get it back in our lifetimes. Maybe in 20 years or 30

[Hortensis]

29. Interesting! I'm not so sanguine, tho. When we control congress

we can pass laws regulating the various information industries. A majority of Americans are showing in polls now that they realize it's necessary. And just look at what the Republicans are trying to do in one term, and would if foolish voters had given them a supermajority. No lifetimes needed.

But I'd like to say that we're really fighting for our democracy itself, for government of, by and for the people.

Want a government that serves us and not vice versa? A free press? Or universal healthcare? Whatever excites us, we need to vote Democrat or risk losing it for most of a lifetime, or for us older people the rest of our lives.

[Eliot Rosewater]

30. WE cant win JACK-SHIT if people are insisting our candidates be perfect or subjected to a

checklist.

And I know you know what I mean.

I cant wait to see what happens in Nov, at this point in time I am hopeful but what I cant calculate yet is how many KGB agents, on the ground embedded agents will do what? How many work in IT companies that count votes? How many work in precincts? And then of course how much interference in overall election will there be.

EVEN IF every sane American votes and votes dem, EVEN IF, we still could have an uphill battle.

Having said my usual doom and gloom for the day, I will say I am excited to see what a democratic congress can do to that fucking traitor.

[Hortensis]

31. I actually fought that same battle on another thread.

A post directly agitating for DUers to vote against blue dog Democrats, and apparently any others who have to speak carefully to conservative voters while running for election (even after I pointed out how it could keep congress in Republican hands), ended up being removed by jury.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10445549

Most here not only want to do right but really do know how to do that perfectly well, in spite of the forces trying to delude us into defeating ourselves. If Democrats were as vulnerable as Republicans, we wouldn't be the big enemy the anti-Democracy forces all have to defeat.

[NastyRiffraff]

35. I know what you mean.

It's sickening how many people here on DU were taken in by Russian agents, again right here on DU. And proceeded to run willingly off the cliff. We ALL need to be aware of EXACTLY how our election was hacked, including on social media, message boards, and comments sections.

VOTE DEMOCRATIC.

[Eliot Rosewater]

38. I am seeing attacks of Kamala everywhere i look

[FromMissouri]

36. My older friend

has had a very bad year, multiple hospitalizations, heart stent, pneumonia, other ailments, and when I went to visit him, he was adament: He was not going to die, he swore, while that bastard was president. So far, so good.

[olegramps]

26. The first time may have been repulsive for many:

But once they have compromised with the devil the second and each time after will be easier to tolerate. They have been forced to into this position by the threat to their livelihood. It will be met with a show of concern that will quickly subside and it will be business has usual as an apathetic nation gets on with life as it is. Don't expect your representatives to give it any thing more than the usual phony momentary concern and we will look into this. Yeah, we have heard it all before. The only, I mean only, concern that your representative has is getting reelected. Each and every vote cast is sole predicated on how it will effect his electability. Good luck America. You are going to need it.

[colsohlibgal]

2. So Insidious

There ought to be a law and actually here used to be one.

[bdamomma]

3. We can't stay silent

and there is no room for PROPAGANDA in this country, this is not Russia. We need to fight like hell.

[calimary]

39. NO. We CANNOT stay silent.

[smirkymonkey]

4. K&R

[backtoblue]

5. Kick and rec

News used as propaganda = state media control
Orwellian indeed.

[TygrBright]

6. We do not have a Sinclair station in our area.

But if we did, I would purchase NOTHING advertised thereon.

disgustedly,
Bright

[ailsagirl]

7. I always am eager to read what Dan Rather has to say

Apart from everything else, he always nails it

[tblue37]

8. K&R for visibility. nt

[disndat]

9. As with other threats

to freedom issues, Dan Rather nails it.

[pangaia]

10. I wish he could go on tv and speak all the truths he has spoken. I know he has.

But it such a strong message on the tube.

[Skittles]

11. it's not a slippery slope

it is fascism

[magicarpet]

16. That is their intent and desire....

.... chip away at the foundations of Democracy until it topples over and is no more.

Then the Authoritarian Fascist Oligarchy can take over the reins of our government and seize total control.

[Cosmocat]

33. We are more than knee deep that rat hole at this point

we were "slipping" into prior to November 2016 ...

We are in it now.

And more than a little.

[JHB]

12. The saddest part, Dan, is that youre understating it...

To those who say this rhetoric is hyperbolic, I submit that attacking the press as honest brokers of information has been one of the constants of this Administration and all those who normalize it. But this is not normal. This is not how the freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, that beloved First Amendment, is supposed to operate.

Actually, it is normal... for conservatives, and therefore Republicans, and has been for decades. Hell, they made you their poster-boy for “liberal media bias”. They’ve wanted your scalp since Vietnam.

Hell, hating you was their training wheels for reflexively hating Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and especially Hillary Clinton..

The only thing different today is their Leader’s eagerness to do it right out in public, not obscured by saying it among party insiders and conservative circle-jerks.

[moondust]

13. Dan gets it.

It's one thing to encourage or even require local affiliates to put together an editorial comment warning their viewers of the presence of biased or distorted news and propaganda on social media.

It's something else to require them all to read on air the same script handed down from Big Brother that just happens to echo the President's propaganda while the company is awaiting government approval of a merger that will allow them to control even more media outlets.

[FromMissouri]

14. list of Sinclair stations

from Wikipedia article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stations_owned_or_operated_by_Sinclair_Broadcast_Group

I have already deleted my local station from the automatic scan. It was kind of meh anyway. Won't be missed. But I won't know what advertisers to boycott since I won't be watching. Course, I don't pay attention to ads other than to giggle at them. Old enough to no longer buy shit that's advertised.

[KPN]

25. Excellent idea. Everyone who really cares

about our democracy should do this. It's such an easy way to ensure one isn't inadvertently enabling such attacks on democracy.

Wouldn't it be grand if everyone nationwide within Sinclair market areas and shares this concern would do so. A very simple and efficient way to put a dagger in ratings.

The same could be done for every Fox station.

Perhaps an organization like Media Matters or Indivisible could promote this patriotic act.

[DBoon]

28. We need to find the public TV station in each of these markets

and help them raise funds

I know there are issues with public radio and TV, but on their worst days PBS/NPR are beacons of enlightenment compared to SInclair.

[calimary]

40. Welcome to DU, fromMissouri!

Daily Kos was on this yesterday, linking to the Wikipedia link.

I spread it around with the co-chairs of my local Indivisible group. We need to get activist groups like that involved. I wonder if People for the American Way will file suit? They should. There should be consequences for this, all over the country.

[FromMissouri]

43. we can each do something

Thank you. Been politically active my entire life, from trying to convince my rich aunt that Nixon was evil to organizing rides to DC to protest Vietnam in November 1969. And many campaigns. We must always push back, because if we don't, they win. I am so impressed by these Stoneman Douglas kids. Total support.
The good guys will win without guns.
As a former broadcaster, I understood that it was being stacked when Reagan's FCC deleted the Fairness Doctrine, something the "Heritage Foundation" (actually a bunch of bought and paid for pimps) defended. And then came Fox and Rush. I honestly believed Limbaugh was an SNL type parody of right wing nut jobs when I first heard him while driving across Illinois back in the nineties. I laughed my ass off. It rearranged my mind when I realized that some people actually took him seriously. God there are some massively dumb motherfuckers out there.

[calimary]

44. Sounds like you and I have shared work and activism experiences from back-in-the-day,

whatever that day was.

I remember when Reagan got rid of the Fairness Doctrine and the ownership restrictions. Used to be that one could own only THREE broadcast properties in any one market. That usually worked out to one TV station, one AM station, and one FM station but it could have been any permutation of those elements. But only THREE. Well, fucking Reagan got rid of that one, which led to a literal orgy of mergers and acquisitions, and buying out the mom-'n'-pop stations to cobble massive and mighty radio networks together while the moms-'n'-pops unloaded for ridiculously lavish amounts of money (which they took and then RAN!), and what had been 600+ owners of broadcast properties across the country were soon consolidated and shrunk to a mere SIX. Six obscenely large and eventually over-leveraged corporate giants.

They all argued that this would SERVE the LISTENER!!!! But all it did was serve the corporate masters, as radio staffers from coast to coast were fired or laid off, and you'd wind up with ONE jock recording liners from New York or some other center and syndicating to stations in all kinds of markets including those little ones that are very local and had been serving their communities rather intimately. That's all gone. So many jobs that so many of my friends and colleagues lost! You could have ONE guy in Manhattan telling dozens of morning shows and local program directors what to play, regardless what the local community wanted. SO MUCH local talent was shoved out onto the street. HORRID. And worse, if the station could be automated, all you'd really need were a couple of ad guys and an engineer to make sure the machinery worked and the syndicated shows piped in from across the country, and man were you saving on overhead.

But the ART was lost. And the local flavor was lost. And the local TALENT that opened the supermarkets and rode in the annual Santa Claus parades was lost. No wonder their numbers all dropped. When your favorite deejay is replaced by some purported big name from faraway New York City or Chicago or L.A., who could you relate to every morning (or other dayparts)?

It was horrible. And very very sad.

[FromMissouri]

45. yeah, I was one of those small market DJs for awhile

And I recall a preacher whose tapes we played daily, who ran afoul of the Fairness Doctrine, and we had to run a tape in response to him, from someone he had insulted on his show. Man, if Rush had to do that shit, or Hannity, or whoever else is on Fox which I don't know much about because I skip it, we might approach "fair and balanced." After all, if the government doesn't take the neutral position and require balance, who is there to turn to? That's one of the functions of government, to ensure a level [as possible] playing field. When FCC abdicated that role, we lost responsible broadcast journalism.

[calimary]

46. Unfortunately Reagan took care of that.

Ended the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time provisions, PLUS relaxing the limits on station ownership in any single market. Used to be you could only own three properties in any given market. It usually worked out to a TV station, an AM radio station and an FM station. That old bastard turned broadcast ownership into an orgy of a feeding frenzy of mergers and acquisitions and monopolies.

[Honeycombe8]

15. Well, broadcasters aren't journalists. nt

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Well, Some Are

Many are not, they're just news readers, but some actually are journalists, or at least started out doing actual reporting.

[Honeycombe8]

19. I don't know any who are. They just read what is put before them. Hence "broadcaster."

Like in that movie News Broadcast, or something. William Hurt and Holly Hunter.

There might be a few. But I don't know any. Journalists generally report and write.

[calimary]

41. Broadcast News.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0092699/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_News_(film)

[nolabear]

20. You want the inside, horrific perspective?

I made an OP on this but am so disturbed I’m posting it in threads too.

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/tv/turmoil-inside-komo-news-as-conservative-owner-sinclair-mandates-talking-points/

[BobTheSubgenius]

22. A rational, reasonable POV from Dan Rather, as usual.

The great pity is that it won't change one RW mind. None of the very, very few that would get past the name of the writer would get past the first para. Way too many Elite Words.

[Grammy23]

23. When this aired for the first time on our local Sinclair station, I paid little attention to the

exact words. I just glanced up to see the two principle news anchors standing side by side, reading from a TelePrompTer. Both have been with the station for decades. They are pillars of the community involved in many good organizations and events. The look on their faces was so strange. The woman in particular, had such a somber look, it was odd. She did not look happy. I commented at the time to my husband ....”That was odd. Wonder what that was all about?” As I said, I wasn’t listening closely to what they said.

Since then, I have heard another member of the crew at that station repeat, word for word, the same speech. I have read comments here and analysis such as the Dan Rather piece. We are at a critical point in this country. For those not paying attention, it is time to wake up. Probably past time. Changes are taking place, some right in front of us, some behind the scenes. They are testing us to see how far they can go before we sit up and notice. This is way past Code Red as Thomas Freidman said on MJ this a.m.

[KPN]

24. K&R!

[defacto7]

32. K&R

[Initech]

34. Sinclair is an evil, soulless corporation. They are wose than Fox News.

[FirstLight]

37. This is "Coup 101"

This is how they take it apart, piece by piece...

*purge or drive away heads of state and fail to re-fill positions.

*give other key points in govt to those with the best "interests" (oligarchy, much...nepotism, much)

*undermine the credibility of media, start prosecuting or outright jailing the real journalists

...there's more, but I forgot...

[Cha]

42. Good on Dan Rather calling this out for

Not being normal.

trump needs to go back to private life where he can shit on everything he touches there.