Letter from the Editor: Danger to our Democracy

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Emanuel Negrete

People do not realize who are the faces behind the news scripts.

If I told you that there is a company out there with control of a plethora of local news stations across the nation, would you believe me? Do you feel comfortable knowing a single board of executives writes news scripts and holds their news anchors to repeat them verbatim? You might not believe me, but here is the proof:

Sinclair’s Broadcasting Group

What you just witnessed was the horrifying product of the biggest news conglomerate you never heard of: Sinclair Broadcasting Group. At this very moment, Sinclair owns over 191 television stations, ranging from FOX to Univision. 

During the 2016 election campaign, Sinclair claimed to have no bias for any of the candidates. However, the public was quick to point out how their twenty exclusive interviews with Trump prove otherwise. Sinclair rebutted this by claiming that there was no arrangement between Trump’s campaign team and the station. That statement would crumble when Trump’s son-in-law Kushner revealed a deal with the station for “straighter coverage.”

It is also worth noting that the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, did not have a single interview within the broadcasting group stations. The importance of this fact comes to light upon realizing Sinclair broadcasts target swing states. Swing states are a particular area of the United States that either candidate could win. This is imperative to think about considering how vital those states were to the results of the elections.

However, I wish not to stir conflict about the election itself, but rather the principles behind Sinclair’s techniques. It should not matter to you what political ideology you follow; what is important is that monopolized media harbors corruption. 

Do you understand the ramifications and implications of the two-minute video you’ve just watched? There are a group of people sitting on heaps of money producing this propaganda and then having hundreds of people repeating them like some cult. 

The takeaway I wish to leave my readers with is that the world of news coverage has changed. There are myriads of people waiting to spoon-feed you information that suits their agenda. Ironic how a video that is all about preventing the degradation of society only leaves the viewer saying one thing: this is extremely dangerous to our society.