Sinclair Broadcasting Goes One Step Too Far With It's Right-Wing Campaign

Sinclair Broadcasting is the second largest television conglomerate in the nation-- controlling over 190 television stations in over 100 market areas.  Since taking control of those stations, Sinclair has often forced them to run conservative commentary, often embedded into local news programming. Many of those local news programs have also been forced to adopt an editorial viewpoint that mirrors the ultra right wing position of Sinclair’s principal owners.

Among the programs that appears on Sinclair stations is a segment called “America This Week" hosted by frequent Fox News commentator Eric Bolling. In the segment that was scheduled to air this week across the nation, Bolling interviewed discredited researcher Judy Mikovits, the central figure in the conspiracy theory film Plandemic. Mikovits’ woo-filled statements include claims that: The virus behind COVID-19 was man-made; hospitals are being bribed to over-report COVID-19 deaths; wearing a mask “activates your own virus”; and that getting a flu shot not only increases the odds of catching COVID-19, but "If you've ever had a flu vaccine, you were injected with coronaviruses."
 
 Even people who have never seen Mikovits’ original propaganda piece are spouting watered-down versions of Plandemic’s statements that have been widely shared through social media.  As CNN reports, during Bolling’s interview with Mikovits, the ex-researcher insists that the SARS-CoV-2 virus didn’t really originate in China. Instead, she claims that for a decade Dr. Fauci has “manufactured” viruses and shipped them to a lab in Wuhan, China. Attorney Larry Klayman, who appears on the same program, also insists that the “origins of the coronavirus” are in the United States.

Bolling then follows up with Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier, and while the two do express doubt that Fauci cooked up the SARS-CoV-2 virus, they also go on speculate about its origins with repeated references to the virus being "man-made within a laboratory.”

After widespread outrage in media circles, Sinclair backed down, putting out a statement saying, "After further review, we have decided to delay this episode's airing. We will spend the coming days bringing together other viewpoints and provide additional context."  The fact that Sinclair would consider airing such outlandish conspiracy theories represents a real risk that Sinclair is taking the next step in contaminating the airwaves with more right-wing propaganda.