Trump's new favorite TV broadcaster is Sinclair because its anchors warn of "fake news"

In President Donald Trump’s ongoing war with the media, he tweet-slammed CNN and NBC Monday while praising conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcasting Company, whose anchors have warned viewers about fake news.

Trump’s tweets were likely a response to a Deadspin article out Saturday titled “How America's Largest Local TV Owner Turned Its News Anchors Into Soldiers In Trump's War on the Media,” featuring a mashup video of dozens of Sinclair’s local news anchors reading from a script, calling media bias “extremely dangerous to a democracy.” The script mimics Trump’s common complaints of unflattering news coverage as “fake news.”

Trump defended Sinclair in a tweet, calling it “far superior” to CNN and NBC.

Maryland-based Sinclair is the biggest owner of local television news stations in the U.S. The company requires stations to air conservative commentary segments, blurring the lines between news and opinion. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner in December 2016 told a business group the Trump campaign had struck a deal giving Sinclair more access in exchange for its stations broadcasting their Trump interviews across the country without commentary.

Sinclair is trying to acquire another 40 stations by buying Tribune Media, in a deal that would expand the company’s reach to 72 percent of the country. The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department are currently considering the deal. In November 2017, the FCC eased longstanding rules against owning multiple media outlets in the same market, paving the way for the acquisition.

Anchors at Sinclair stations have expressed concern about reading the script. One anchor who requested anonymity told CNN last month, "I felt like a POW recording a message." Another said, “This is so manipulative."

“They're certainly not happy about it," a Seattle station employee told SeattlePI. "It's certainly a forced thing."

Cover image: President Donald Trump, joined by the Easter Bunny, speaks on the Truman Balcony during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 2, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)