Thoughts on Sinclair

When Seattle's ABC affiliate, KOMO, was sold to Sinclair Broadcast Group, I heard a number of concerns over the conservative slant embraced by Sinclair. After the sale went through, I had my first exposure to the type of news they present. Since then, I have seen the criticism of this company really take off. Because I have seen how this business behaves, I thought I would provide my own viewpoint regarding Sinclair.


The core criticism is valid. Sinclair frequently posts articles with obvious conservative bias. I can usually skip the byline and identify an article as coming from Sinclair solely based off of the bias.

Sinclair is certainly not the only news source that you can find on KOMO's website. KOMO writes its own articles, and they utilize the Associated Press. With Sinclair posting alongside the Associated Press, it seems reasonable to make some comparisons between the two.

The Associated Press is undeniably liberal. Like Sinclair, I can establish that they are behind an article by skipping the byline and looking at the bias. I frequently see a hard push for a liberal agenda and know that an article was written by the Associated Press as early as the first sentence. Between the two, I would say that Sinclair is probably a little closer to the middle, and the Associated Press embraces more of an extremist perspective.

There are key differences between these entities beyond their political slants. Sinclair usually throws in a liberal viewpoint where the Associated Press is strictly one sided. The extra viewpoint certainly doesn't take away the obvious bias, but it's better than what we are getting from the Associated Press.

Another difference is that Sinclair posts primarily on their own websites right next to posts from the Associated Press. The Associated Press is more widespread and frequently features on websites devoid of any alternative viewpoints. This means that Sinclair is providing more political diversity than you can find on most websites. Although I would prefer news to be more neutral, I would much rather read different views on a topic than to be bombarded with one-sided propaganda. I don't trust Sinclair, but I prefer them to the alternatives.