Campaign Action
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) has some questions for Sinclair Broadcasting Chief David Smith. Specifically, why did your people lie to my people about your mandated programming in local stations?
In his letter to Smith, Durbin says that his staff met with Sinclair officials in November of last year, and that "Sinclair representatives repeatedly represented that Sinclair does not dictate the words or content local reporters deliver and that any national content distributed on Sinclair-owned stations is delivered by an identified national correspondent." Clearly, that was not true. Local newscasters are absolutely forced to read Sinclair propaganda, word-for-word as the creepy, Orwellian video compiled by Deadspin demonstrates.
That's not all Durbin wants to know about, however, because he is "troubled" by "recent reporting that there are contractual penalties for Sinclair-owned stations and employees that refuse to run Sinclair-produced mandated content." He asks Smith to "confirm what Sinclair's policy is regarding Sinclair-produced mandated content for local anchors," and to "clarify whether there will be employment consequences for personnel at local stations who refuse to deliver the scripted promotional message."
Sinclair employees are both revolting against the edict as they did in a Madison, Wisconsin station and blowing the whistle on the degree of control Sinclair has over their careers. In employee contracts provided to Bloomberg, some are "subject to a liquidated damages clause for leaving before the term of their agreement was up: one that requires they pay as much as 40 percent of their annual compensation to the company." Beyond that, they have a six-month non-compete clause, meaning they can't work in their home market, and are subject to forced arbitration to break their contract. But it's the economic hit they'd take in leaving that keeps them trapped.
Under the clause, there is a specific window of time during which employees can give notice. One current employee who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly said the clause's limitations are the reason he hasn't quit. An ex-employee who also requested anonymity said both the non-compete and the damages clause dissuaded her at first from looking for work elsewhere.
Former employees told Bloomberg that the contract cover more than on-air employees, whose sudden departure could cost the station money in costs related to advertising that includes their images, but also cover "at least some employees who never appeared on television," who "were still required to sign such contracts."
This is all direct contradiction to what Sinclair officials told Durbin. There's no real penalty he can impose—it wasn't in a hearing setting and they weren't under oath. But he can—and should—continue to make a political stink about it. Sinclair is poised to move into enough markets to cover 72 percent of American households, if their acquisition of Tribune Media is approved by the FCC and the Department of Justice. On the public airwaves, which they use for free. It's going to be up to Democrats—and an engaged public—to make sure it doesn't happen.