In his usual misinformed way, the president calls The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, “a lobbyist weapon,” among other things. However, “There isn’t anybody here who is paid by Amazon,” the editor, Martin Baron, said. You don’t have to like Amazon to fear Trump’s attack on it.
Last month, anchors at local news stations across the country made identical comments about media bias. The script came from their owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group.
The real problem with Sinclair’s ‘fake’ news script, as outlined in this Washington Post article by Eric Wemple is that it flies in the face of any semblance of responsible journalism, which undermines the First Amendment.
Helaine Olen further explains why Trump’s misguided support for Sinclair Broadcasting is so concerning. If left unbridled, as it now appears to be, the entire distribution of news will be unfairly slanted; and that is a basic and serious threat to democracy.
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