The Story About Sinclair Propaganda Is Itself Propaganda
Get 20% off with the promo code Timcast at http://VirtualShield.com/Timcast This video contains a paid promotion spot for Virtual Shield in the beginning of the podcast.A video is going viral depicting various news anchors reading the same script. The Video is creepy as you hear the same lines recited in unison by dozens of anchors. But the video omits important parts of the script.Local news reading a generic script is not new. Conan O'Brien has been highlighting this for years. So why now? Why are people now highlighting this practice. What are they not telling us?Make sure to subscribe for more travel, news, opinion, and documentary with Tim Pool everyday.Amazon Prime 30 day free trial - http://amzn.to/2sgiDqRMY GEARGoPro Karma - http://amzn.to/2qw10m4GoPro 6 - http://amzn.to/2CEK0z1DJI Mavic Drone - http://amzn.to/2lX9qgTZagg 12 AMP portable battery - http://amzn.to/2lXB6SxTASCAM Lavalier mic - http://amzn.to/2AwoIhI Canon HD XF 105 Camera - http://amzn.to/2m6v1o3Canon 5D MK III Camera - http://amzn.to/2CvFnnm360 Camera (VR) - http://amzn.to/2AxKu4RFOLLOW MEInstagram - http://instagram.com/TimcastTwitter - http://twitter.com/TimcastMinds - http://Minds.com/TimcastFacebook - http://facebook.com/TimcastnewsBitcoin Wallet: 13ha54MW2hYUS3q1jJhFyWdpNfdfMWtmhZSEND STUFF HERETim Pool330 Washington Street - PMB 517Hoboken, NJ 07030Support the show (http://timcast.com/donate)
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
I'm sure by now most of you have seen the infamous Sinclair propaganda video.
For those that haven't, it is a video depicting various local anchors around the country reciting the exact same script.
Now what I find creepy about it is that there are certain points of the script that they fill in the blanks to make it seem like it's an honest opinion coming from a local community And not a corporate script being handed down to promote their network and what they deem as objectivity.
People are decrying this, saying it's a sign of our dystopian future, that they're shocked that this is happening right now.
They blame Sinclair.
But this isn't unique to the Sinclair Media Group, and this phenomenon has been going on for a long time.
Conan O'Brien highlighted this years ago.
When you start to look into this story, you'll notice something interesting.
that maybe the people being manipulated or those doing the manipulation are not who you think they are.
I've made many videos talking about how news media can use deceptive language
to make you assume things that may or may not be true.
How many news organizations will omit information on purpose to drive the wrong conclusion.
Before I get into all that, let me give a quick shout out to today's sponsor.
Virtual Shield is a virtual private network service that can help keep you and your data safe as you browse the web.
Whether it's a hacker, big business, or government actor, your data can be stolen and spied on.
With Virtual Shield, you can protect your privacy and add a simple layer of defense to your internet browsing.
Go to virtualshield.com slash timcast and use the promo code TIMCAST to get 20% off and no payments for 30 days.
There is never a guarantee of security, but that doesn't mean we don't lock our doors and take effective measures to protect ourselves and our families.
For those that are interested, I've included the link to VirtualShield below.
The video is titled, Sinclair's Script Frustration, and so far it has 2,388,456 views.
And if you look over here on my analytics tool, we can see that of all of the posts, there are 25 posts on Reddit, a total of 469,000 upvotes, and 22,300 comments.
It is safe to say that this video has gone viral, but first, let me show you a quick clip of this video so you can understand just why people might think it's creepy.
unidentified
The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.
Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control exactly what people think.
The article that made the video go viral from Deadspin, titled, How America's Largest Local TV Owner Turned Its News Anchors into Soldiers in Trump's War on the Media.
Earlier this month, CNN's Brian Stelter broke the news that Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner or operator of nearly 200 television stations in the U.S., would be forcing its news anchors to record a promo about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country.
The script, which parrots Donald Trump's oft-declarations of developments negative to his presidency as fake news, brought upheaval to the newsroom already dismayed with Sinclair's consistent interference to bring right-wing propaganda to local television broadcasts.
The first thing I want to highlight is the language being used.
As I mentioned, news organizations, media companies, propagandists, whoever, will try to use specific language to drive an emotion, to make you come to a conclusion.
Let it be said, no one is being forced to do anything.
That's a bit extreme.
The reality is Sinclair apparently had a promo they wanted to shoot, they wanted all of their stations to do it, and so they sent a script where people would then fill in the blanks and recite it to promote the local station.
Deadspin published the script, and you can see where they have, hi, I'm blank, and I'm blank.
Our greatest responsibility is to serve our Northwest communities.
And you can see in the video, they replaced Northwest with whatever their local news outlet is.
Local anchors are not journalists.
They don't do research.
They don't fact-check.
They just read a script and they don't think twice.
I'm sure there are people who work at these outlets who are upset that they have to run these stories or read these generic statements.
But none of them are standing up and walking out.
They're not quitting.
They're sticking to their contracts and they're saying, okay, and they're just doing it.
I take issue with that because certainly if someone really wanted to look into what the script was about, they could, well, they could just do that.
But what do we have instead?
We have news outlets that just repeat the script handed down.
from corporate without doing any fact-checking.
And it's ironic because in the video, they actually reference people not looking into stories.
unidentified
The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.
More alarming, some media outlets publish the same fake stories without checking facts first.
That statement from the anchor isn't a perfect example of what I'm trying to say.
But it is funny that these news anchors will read whatever is placed in front of them,
but then decry other outlets for not fact-checking their stories first.
But in this video that's gone viral, there's something that has been missed, or perhaps left out intentionally.
I don't know why it's not a part of...
This video.
But when you watch this video for what it is, sure, it is creepy.
You've got all these people saying the same thing, decrying fake news and political agendas, and many people are accusing Sinclair of being pro-Trump and simply doing this to push this Trump narrative.
But let's look at the bottom of the script.
Let's look at the part that was left out of this viral video.
It says, but we are human and sometimes our reporting might fall short.
If you believe our coverage is unfair, please reach out to us by going to comonews.com and clicking on content concerns.
We value your comments.
We will respond back to you.
We work very hard to seek the truth and strive to be fair, balanced, and factual.
We consider it our honor, our privilege to responsibly deliver the news every day.
Thank you for watching, and we appreciate your feedback.
You see here, we will respond back to you.
These videos are a promo.
for the news outlets and they want to convey that they're committed to fact-based reporting and they want to encourage their audience to actually contact them and hold them accountable.
This is not the most egregious version of the top-down national to local news story generic script reading.
I think we have a big problem when local news outlets just recite whatever script they're handed.
It is a contributing factor to fake news.
But this example is certainly not the worst.
unidentified
A lot of people think the big news stories today are the snowstorm that's hitting the Midwest or the looming federal budget cuts.
But judging by local news, there's apparently an even bigger story that's sweeping the nation right now.
Check it out.
Well, if you filled up your gas tank lately, then you don't need us to tell you that gas prices are back on the rise.
You don't need us to tell you that gas prices are back on the rise.
This is just them reciting one line about gas prices being on the rise, and while they are saying the same line, it's not a full script.
But Conan O'Brien once again made another video.
unidentified
A lot of people think the big news stories these days are, well, a judge ruling against snooping by the NSA, or the big fight in Congress over the new proposed budget.
A lot of people say those are the big stories.
But judging by local news, and I've been looking at a lot of local news, there's an even bigger story that's sweeping the nation right now.
Who are you really shopping for this holiday season?
It's okay, you can admit it, if you've bought an item or two or ten for yourself.
It's okay, you can admit it, if you've bought an item or two or maybe ten for yourself.
It's okay, you can admit it, if you've bought an item or two or ten for yourself.
It's okay, you can admit it, if you've bought an item or two or ten for yourself.
It's okay, you can admit it if you've bought an item or two or ten for yourself.
It's okay, you can admit it if you've bought an item or two or ten for yourself.
It's okay, you can admit it, Todd, if you've bought an item or two or ten for yourself.
This video that we're seeing go around is not new.
Conan O'Brien did a comedy bit about this in 2013.
Probably before that.
I don't know if they shoot and then upload right away.
Maybe this got uploaded later.
But these videos have been on YouTube since 2013.
So why is everybody freaking out about this one video?
This one time?
That news organizations are reciting the script.
Well, it could be because they're talking about fake news and political agendas.
Sinclair has responded to criticism of the media bashing promos, and this from Brian Stelter at CNN.
Sinclair's senior vice president of news, Scott Livingston, is defending the promos as a well-researched journalistic initiative focused on fair and objective reporting.
For the record, the stories we are referencing in this campaign are the unsubstantiated ones like Pope Endorses Trump, which move quickly across social media and result in an ill-informed public, he wrote in Monday's memo.
Some other false stories, like the false Pizzagate story, can result in dangerous consequences.
We are focused on fact-based reporting.
That's our commitment to our communities.
So I'll say it again.
The fact that we have so many different news outlets, anchors, who just read a script of a prompter without knowing what the hell they're talking about is a serious problem.
And that is exemplified by Sinclair.
It is exemplified by Conan O'Brien.
But this is not the worst example.
In fact, the message being given in the Sinclair videos is not bad.
They say, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control exactly what people think.
This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.
More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories, stories that just aren't true, without checking facts first.
That's all factual.
And the same media companies criticizing Sinclair have made basically the same statement.
So what is it about this one video that's making them so angry?
Well, it's the accusation that Sinclair is doing this to push Trump's fake news narrative.
But what I find interesting is that in the video that's gone viral, it omits the last part of the script.
The part where it says that they want you to contact them and they will respond back to you if you have concerns about their reporting.
I guess people seem to think that local news anchors are actually journalists when in reality they're just people who look pretty and can read lines in front of them while they talk.
I don't have a script.
I don't have a teleprompter.
You'll notice jump cuts.
Sometimes I don't have jump cuts because I just talk how I see it and I will read you sections of news stories to explain what's going on.
But real news shouldn't be canned and it shouldn't be coming from one person at a national level or a committee being sent down to all of these various local news stations.
In my opinion, if Sinclair wanted to get this message across, they could have sent an outline saying, here are some points we want to highlight.
We want to highlight the fake news problem.
We want to highlight the political bias.
But when you get these people to just read a canned message, it is creepy and it is problematic.
It makes people feel like we're living in a dystopian future where there's just this national propaganda being handed down from the corporations.
ThinkProgress says, The script's authors provide no proof to back their claim that mainstream news outlets are intentionally running false stories without fact-checking first.
More alarmingly, they do not specifically cite which media members are supposedly attempting to control the way the public thinks, despite casting a wide net and claiming that certain journalists pose a threat to democracy.
According to the Post-Intelligencer, employees at Sinclair-owned stations were upset about the script.
And now what I'll do for you is show you some examples of when mainstream media pushed fake news stories without fact-checking first or decided they should control what people think.
Well, and I think that the dangerous, you know, edges here are that he's trying to undermine the media, trying to make up his own facts.
And it could be that while unemployment and the economy worsens, he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think.
There's one example where she says Trump might actually control what people think, and that is our job.
But let's look at some examples of fake news from the mainstream media.
In a story from the Washington Post called The Life and Death of the Seth Rich Conspiracy, Dave Weigel published what is fake news and changed the story several months later.
This is what I'm showing you.
I'm showing you newsdiffs.org and it's showing you the difference between the two articles Before and after the changes are made.
So you can see pink was archived May 24th, and the green was archived November 18th.
So several months later, for some reason, the Washington Post changed this story without issuing an update.
It's very strange.
In the original, It says, according to experts and Rich's family, the emailed invitation from Mega.NZ appeared to be an attempt to gain access to Rich's email.
Let me stop right here and say, there is no evidence to suggest that is true.
It was just an email invitation from Mega.NZ, and no, would not likely appear to be a phishing attempt.
This is misleading.
Though I wouldn't call this statement fake news because they said, appeared.
It is disingenuous.
Joel Rich, who maintains His late son's Gmail account did not click the link.
Meanwhile, .com was promising on Twitter.
You can see here.
This pink, straight to here, is the original article.
Meanwhile, Dotcom was promising on Twitter.
And what they added in November, they removed this section and said,
his late son's Gmail account.
When new emails come in, did not click the link.
Dotcom had not worked at Mega itself for years, but he was promising on Twitter.
Okay, the point I'm making here, is that when this story originally ran,
when the bulk of the traffic hit it, this section was not included.
The part where Dotcom had not worked at Mega for years.
for years.
I assure you, when this story was updated, no one saw the changes, nor did they put an update anywhere in the article.
From the Hill, RNC calls on ABC News to fully retract and apologize for Flynn report.
The bombshell report, which claimed that President Trump had directed Flynn on the campaign trail to establish contacts with the Russians, was reported live on air Friday morning, prompting turbulence in financial markets.
But the information given in the Ane report was never included in the article posted on ABC News' website.
The network later issued a clarification saying a confidant of Flynn said it was after the election Trump directed Flynn to reach out to Russian officials.
Or this from CNN.
CNN corrects story and emails to Trump's about WikiLeaks.
CNN on Friday afternoon corrected an exclusive report that said candidate Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr.
had received an email providing a web address and decryption key allowing them to access hacked documents from WikiLeaks before such documents were publicly available.
CNN's initial reporting of the date on the email sent to members of the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks documents, which was confirmed by two sources to CNN, was incorrect.
CNN said in a statement, we have updated our story to include the correct date and present the proper context for the timing of the email.
I could go on and on and on, but keep in mind, just because there are examples of these fake news stories, if you want to call it that, bad misinformation, stories that need to be corrected, it doesn't mean that the news organizations as a whole are really bad.
I think for the most part, these big news organizations do put out good information, but you have to be diligent and make sure you're not getting fed the crap, and that's the challenge.
If we can highlight these examples of bad journalism, Then how do we know any story we read isn't bad?
It becomes a big challenge.
And it's also important to keep in mind, this is how news has ALWAYS been.
Just because we can fact check it now and know these stories are not true, doesn't mean they were doing a better job in the past.
They weren't.
Technology has just gotten better.
ThinkProgress said they didn't include any examples, and why should they?
It was a simple promo spot for the various local news networks to highlight why fake news is bad, political bias is bad, and to focus on objective reporting.
I think when you look at the script, most people would agree with it.
And I think the reason it's being overblown now is because it is ammunition against the Trump administration.
Because certainly, there was no cry to make this end when Conan O'Brien made the same videos several years ago.
They're not identical.
There are some differences.
But I think this is all about partisan politics.
This, my friends, is just another example of disingenuous behaviors in the culture war.
One side trying to win against another.
Again, I don't like local news outlets reading scripts without fact-checking them.
I don't like the idea that one company is going to send a script to all of these various news outlets and tell them to repeat it.
I don't like the idea that news anchors just read whatever's put in front of them.
It is ridiculous to think that people are getting their information this way.
News anchors are not journalists, the people handing the scripts are not journalists, and the people writing the scripts are not journalists.
This is TV, and TV has a big problem.
Local news has a really big problem, and it doesn't matter which side of the fence you're on, we shouldn't be sitting here listening to people reading scripts they didn't write and know nothing about.
We need something to change.
So hopefully it does.
You guys are sitting here watching me speak.
That's a good start.
But I'm not the best.
I'm not perfect.
You have to watch other people fact-check the news.
And as journalism breaks down in this way, or as it becomes more apparent how imperfect journalism is, We need to start doing the work ourselves, and it's a big challenge.
But let me know what you think in the comments below.
How do you feel about the Sinclair propaganda video, as they call it?
You think it's a good thing?
How do you feel about these local journalists just reading the same script over and over again?
