Sinclair Broadcast Group
| Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.
|
|
|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | Incorporated |
| ISIN | US8292261091 |
| founding | 1971 |
| Seat | Hunt Valley , United States |
| management | Christopher Ripley ( CEO ) |
| Number of employees | 8,400 |
| sales | 2,736,000,000 USD |
| Branch | Media company |
| Website | www.sbgi.net |
| As of December 31, 2016 | |
The Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. ( SBG ) is a US-based media company based in Hunt Valley . With 179 television channels, the company is one of the largest broadcasters in the US and reaches a good third of all US households.
overview
SBG is often compared to the radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications , which holds a similar position in the radio market. Critics accuse the UBS of a conservative position. The UBS mainly owns local news channels. The SBG stations include broadcasters from all major networks; the largest number (20) belong to the FOX network .
Julian Sinclair Smith (born May 5, 1920 - † April 19, 1993) founded the local television station WBFF in Baltimore , Maryland in 1971 . Over the years, this resulted in a chain of radio and television stations that were merged in 1986 to form the Sinclair Broadcast Group . In 1986 Julian Sinclair Smith transferred the company to his four sons.
In 2004, the UBS came under public criticism twice. In April 2004, when the group decided that 8 of the group's ABC stations would not be allowed to air an episode of the ABC program Nightline honoring the soldiers who had fallen in the Iraq war by then . The group announced that the decision had been made because the program was obviously politically motivated and undermined US success in Iraq. With this decision, SBG drew criticism from both sides of the political spectrum.
In October 2004, SBG instructed all 62 stations in the group to free a prime-time slot for the documentary Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal . Just two weeks before the US presidential election, the film takes a critical look at the involvement of US presidential candidate John Kerry in the anti-war movement. a. Considered politically influenced by many critics through its association with the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth group. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) lodged a complaint with the US regulatory authority FEC , which, however, rejected it. Many groups and individuals, u. a. the filmmaker Michael Moore , offered the SBG some free footage that could have been broadcast as a contrast to the Kerry documentary. Including u. a. the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 and Going Upriver .
In May 2017 it was announced that SBG would take over the Tribune Media group for 3.9 billion USD with all its radio and television channels. As this would lead to excessive market concentration with a total of 233 TV stations throughout the US, SBG plans to sell 23 stations in 18 media markets after the takeover. So the approval of the FCC to the deal should be achieved. Critics accuse a number of possible buyers of being too close to the then former owner Sinclair. Consumer advocates accuse the FCC chairman Ajit Pai , appointed by Donald Trump, of promoting the takeover process of Sinclair.
Sinclair prescribes so-called must runs for the stations , centrally written reports that have to be presented by the respective moderators. In spring 2018, such a report identified fake news and trending reporting as an evil rampant in the media. The SBG stations were presented as a balanced reporting antidote. The report met with widespread criticism and resistance from some employees of SBG broadcasters who considered it unethical and feared that it would endanger their credibility.
literature
- Eric Klinenberg: The Sinclair Group - opinion making in the command tone . Le Monde diplomatique 10/2005. P. 22/23. ISSN 1434-2561
- Mark Feldstein: How Sinclair became the most insidious force in local TV news . Washington Post, April 10, 2018
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Sinclair Broadcast 2016 Form 10-K Report ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 24, 2017
- ↑ a b Hardly anyone knows it, but every third American gets their news from it . In: watson.de . ( watson.de [accessed on May 13, 2018]).
- ^ Dylan Matthews: Sinclair Broadcast Group, the pro-Trump, conservative company taking over local news, explained. April 3, 2018, accessed March 13, 2020 .
- ↑ Christopher Dinsmore, Lorraine Mirabella: Sinclair Broadcast, Tribune Media announce plans to sell TV stations to move merger forward. In: baltimoresun.com. April 24, 2018, accessed May 13, 2018 .
- ^ Brian Stelter: Sinclair tells stations to air media-bashing promos - and the criticism goes viral. In: cnn.com . April 2, 2018, accessed July 25, 2020.
- ↑ Timothy Burke: How America's Largest Local TV Owner Turned Its News Anchors Into Soldiers In Trump's War On The Media. In: deadspin.com . March 31, 2018, accessed on July 25, 2020.
