Pro-Trump TV forces local news to air propaganda downplaying baby jails

As Trump faces enormous outrage over his inhumane practice of ripping thousands of children from their parents, the pro-Trump Sinclair Broadcast Group recently forced its local affiliates to air an offensive opinion segment downplaying the fact that children are being held in cages in detention centers.

The “must-run” essay featured Russian-born commentator and former Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn. Refusing to condemn Trump for his abusive policy of separating families, Epshteyn instead blamed the “media and opponents of the president” for focusing on the treatment of these families.

“While some of the concern is real, a lot of it is politically driven by the liberals in politics and the media,” he said.

He also claimed that the executive order Trump signed on Wednesday showed he “working to show that it is possible to balance humanity with security for our borders.”

But of course, it was Trump who created the crisis when his administration adopted a draconian “zero tolerance” policy taking immigrant children from their parents and often shipping them off to distant states.

To date, the Trump propaganda segment has aired on more than 100 Sinclair stations in 18 different states, according to Media Matters for America.

With Republicans sprinting away from Trump on the disastrous child abuse story this week, the right-wing media’s support has played a significant role as the scandal unfolded in recent days, often serving as the only outlets of support for Trump on this losing issue.

And while Fox News obediently serves as Trump’s propaganda TV arm on a national level, Sinclair functions as Trump propaganda TV on a local news level.

During the 2016 campaign, the network struck a deal with the Trump campaign to provide more favorable coverage. And this year, it actually urged staffers in company newsrooms to contribute to the company’s political PAC, which represents a blatant conflict of interest.

In April, Sinclair became the object of national derision when it ordered local anchors to each record the same, word-for-word segment, airing concerns about “fake news” in the press.

Last year, Trump’s FCC ripped up long-standing regulations that limit the number of local television stations a single company could own in the U.S. in order to make sure Sinclair could expand its partisan empire.

Since then, Sinclair made a $3.9 billion bid to acquire the Tribune Company. If completed, the deal would put the company in control of 223 TV stations, a previously unheard of number of outlets for a single television broadcast company to own.

Combined, the stations would give Sinclair access to more than 70 percent of American households, including major market stations in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

It’s a megaphone that will even echo Trump lies about children.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.