Behold, the future of local news!
I was watching the Eagles-Panthers game last Sunday on Fox, and I left the TV on after the game was over. The channel turned to local news on our Baltimore Fox affiliate, Fox 45.
During the broadcast there was an opinion segment called "The Point," in which the commentator, Mark Hyman, did a hatchet job on Wesley Clark:
Now it may sound odd that a West Point graduate, Rhodes scholar and retired four-star general would have a character flaw. But Clark has one big enough to drive a tank through ... Presidents Nixon and Clinton are two who entered the White House with deeply flawed characters. We don‘t need another.
I was stunned that a local news show would air such a partisan opinion piece on a national news topic.
After the segment, Hyman mentioned the web address of the news channel, News Central, so I took a look.
News Central is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., and provides the national and regional news for numerous cities, including Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Las Vegas. Here‘s what the website says:
News Central, a centralized news service located at our headquarters in Baltimore produces and distributes national and regional news, sports and weather to our stations using current technology that allows repetitive efforts to be eliminated or reduced. This structure allows the local station to focus completely on reporting local news stories that affect their community.
[n.b. The notion that a local community might have a unique perspective on national and regional news worth broadcasting is ruled out. Stories on NAFTA from both Des Moines and San Diego, for example, would just be repetitive and wasteful.]
Mark Hyman‘s “The Point” is News Central‘s opinion segment, shipped out to all the local affiliates. Hmmm ... isn‘t it odd they believe local news requires a daily opinion segment on national news?
Hyman has an archive of his opinion pieces. They are typical Sean Hannity fare, using such phrases as “the loony left” and “cheese-eating surrender monkeys.” There is no point-counterpoint. One only hears Mark Hyman’s opinions on Sinclair affiliates.
And who exactly is Mark Hyman? Here is where it gets interesting. He has a bio on the News Central site:
Mark Hyman is the Vice President for Corporate Relations for Sinclair, the nation’s largest operator of television stations. Sinclair’s television operations are diverse in programming with stations affiliated with the top six networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, UPN and WB). Sinclair currently owns, operates, programs, or provides sales services to 63 television stations, reaching one in four U.S. television households. Sinclair’s corporate headquarters are based in Hunt Valley, Maryland.
In his current position, he is the head of Corporate Relations which includes developing strategic policy, managing Federal, state and local legislative and regulatory relations, public and media affairs, and community outreach and charitable activities. Sinclair’s total media operations are located in 24 states ... and he hosts ‘The Point with Mark Hyman,’ televised commentaries appearing on Sinclair TV stations with a daily household audience more than four million viewers.
So here we have Sinclair’s Vice President for Corporate Relations also doing Fox-News-style opinion pieces about national political topics on local news affiliates across the country. And he’s perfectly willing to take on competitors. For example, a quote from his piece “Moyer’s Hate of Patriotism”:
Bill Moyers is nothing more than a poster child for the blame America crowd, but one who lives off the proceeds of his generous, taxpayer-subsidized PBS paycheck.
Behold, the future of local news!
Postscript: AlterNet has a nice story on Sinclair Broadcasting and Mark Hyman.
11:01:11 PM 
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