| Friend,
It finally happened: The Sinclair Broadcast Group’s latest “must-run” segment — commentary the company forced local-TV stations to air — was so noxious that even Sinclair is trying to distance itself from it. The network’s tweet came the day after it aired a segment featuring its chief political analyst and former Trump aide Boris Epshteyn defending the tear-gassing of asylum seekers — including children — at the U.S. border.1
Sinclair can’t have it both ways — tell the network to fire Boris Epshteyn immediately.
This is far from the first time that Sinclair has pushed Epshteyn’s racist must-run segments.
Epshteyn has produced segments that try to justify the Trump administration’s policy of separating families and detaining children at the border.2 In another must-run segment, Epshteyn endorsed Trump’s claim that there was violence from “both sides” at the neo-Nazi rally last year in Charlottesville, Virginia.3
Sinclair needs to fire Boris Epshteyn and stop forcing stations to air Trump-administration propaganda.
Sinclair’s practice of forcing stations to air daily “must-run” segments is super-sketchy because the commentaries masquerade as local news. Requiring stations to air this racist rhetoric is one of the ways the network upholds White supremacy and serves as a propaganda machine for the Trump administration.
Justifying the tear-gassing of families and children is another low on a long list of lows.
Enough is enough. Get Boris Epshteyn off the air.
Thanks for all that you do—
Nilda, Lucia, Candace and the rest of the Free Press team
freepress.net
P.S. Sinclair chief political analyst and former Trump aide Boris Epshteyn just defended the tear-gassing of children at the U.S.-Mexico border in a segment the company forced its local-TV stations to air. This is just the latest heinous commentary from Epshteyn. Urge Sinclair to fire him.
1. “Sinclair’s Latest Must-Run Defends the Tear-Gassing of Migrant Children and Warns of an Attempted Invasion,” Media Matters, Nov. 27, 2018: https://act.freepress.net/go/28722?t=9&akid=11776%2E10296224%2EqIXnDe 2. “Sinclair Must-Run Segment on Family-Separation Policy and Child Detention Attacks the Media,” Media Matters, June 21, 2018: https://act.freepress.net/go/28723?t=11&akid=11776%2E10296224%2EqIXnDe 3. “Defense of Trump’s Unforgivable Statements on Charlottesville May Be Airing on Your Local News,” Aug. 17, 2017: https://act.freepress.net/go/28724?t=13&akid=11776%2E10296224%2EqIXnDe | 