"The foundation of our credibility"
CBS6 is owned by Sinclair. And you will recognize one of the anchors in this compilation of Sinclair news stations around the country reading a required statement about how "some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control 'exactly what people think.'" (Here's some background on both Sinclair and the statement, and a John Oliver segment about Sinclair from last year.) [Deadspin] [CNN]
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What a downfall from the station's historic beginnings:
"One of the first television stations in the world, WRGB traces its roots to an experimental station founded on January 13, 1928 broadcast from the General Electric facility in Schenectady under the call letters W2XB. It was popularly known as "WGY Television" after its sister radio station (though WMAK, the predecessor of modern station WBEN in Buffalo also had partial control of the station, which was relinquished shortly after the station signed on). In 1940, it began sharing programs with W2XBS (forerunner of WNBC) in New York City receiving the New York station directly off the air from a mountaintop and rebroadcasting the signal, becoming NBC's first television affiliate." (Wikipedia)
... said Bob on Apr 2, 2018 at 4:09 PM | link
Whodathunk? The venerable Liz Bishop appeared sincere on WRGB's journalistic mission via a short video last week during the mid day news at noon. Then, I caught the Sinclair Story in New York Magazine yesterday about the scripted blurb was aired on ALL of their stations. What little cred WRGB and WGY had, well, it is gone for good. Welcome to REAL Fake News and goodbye Ms. Bishop!
... said ravioliollie on Apr 3, 2018 at 9:32 AM | link
Wow. I finally saw this scripted message last night. I kept waiting for Liz Bishop's eyes to blink out "Help!" in Morse Code.
... said chrisck on Apr 3, 2018 at 9:38 AM | link
I'm done with WRGB. There are many other sources for news and weather.
Now that I've seen the WRGB anchors following orders and reading that right-wing claptrap, I don't ever want to see their faces again. That goes double for Boris.
I understand the value of a job. I understand we have to pay bills. I understand being close to retirement. But we have to stand for something. Journalists who do not act in accordance with the the standards of their profession are no longer journalists. Unfortunately, and sadly, we now know that there are no journalists at the helm at WRGB.
There is also no reason to accept that WRGB broadcasts local news. The editors that matter are right-wing ideologues in the Sinclair offices in Maryland.
... said Dot Beech on Apr 3, 2018 at 10:15 AM | link
I just want to interject here that in many cases the people working on air in local TV news often have employment contracts that include non-compete clauses and penalties for leaving before the end of the contract. This Bloomberg story details some of the provisions reported to be in Sinclair contracts -- among them a clause that requires employees to pay the company if they quit before the end of the contract.
So it's easy to say, well, people should just quit. But the individual situation for these people can be much more complicated. And that's not even adding on the fact that people need a job, and finding a new one in a competitive industry that only includes a handful of jobs per metro area is hard.
... said Greg on Apr 3, 2018 at 1:37 PM | link
It is a bit of a sticky wicker, i suppose, Greg, but this egregious act by Sinclair having the message spread verbatim across the country and realizing that our local news person for more than 35-40 years speak it is really a mind blower. We live in really depressing times when this type of programming seeps into local news. It is a known fact that roughly 65 to 70% of the people who get their news from the MSM trust local outlets over the news propogated by the national outlets, PBS included. Thank you for your information, however.
... said ravioliollie on Apr 3, 2018 at 5:18 PM | link
@greg: me thinks AOA should interview Liz Bishop, I'd be interested to hear what she would (can?) say...
... said -S on Apr 5, 2018 at 4:27 PM | link