Sinclair supports Black Lives Matter

[sinklair]

25-66’s parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group finally released a statement about its support for the Black Lives Matter movement:

On its Facebook page, Sinclair writes:
“Sinclair stands with the peaceful protests occurring around the country that are forcing important conversations and actions to address racism in this country. We support a diverse, inclusive community that treats all people with the respect and dignity that they deserve, and we will use our platform to expose instances of racism and prejudice in all forms. We also express our sincere condolences to the Floyd family and hope that as a country we can come together and insure incidents like this never happen again.”

And yet 25-66 still won’t promote persons of color into management roles. The former GM and current ASSistant GM/Promotions Director, In Over Her Head News Director, Director of Declining Sales, Party Planner/HR Director, Creative Services Director, Business Manager, Local Sales Manager, National Sales Manager, Chief Engineer, News Promotions Manager, IT Director, Sports Director, Executive Producer, Chief Photographer, Digital Content Manager, Digital Sales Manager, Programming Director, Traffic Manager, regional manager and group news director Lame Michaelsen are all... you guessed it... white.

While Sinclair’s sentiment is admirable... it’s long past due that diversity extends to hiring practices that have prevented any significant hiring of persons of color into the station’s and corporate management ranks. And when people complain about the systemic racism that exists at the station, instead of threatening retaliation, managers should listen. Actions over words.

[sinklair]

R: exactly.

25 has Armstrong Williams as it’s owner. But he apparently is our token African American owner for the FCC’s sake only.

[DAC]

I'd say they have no choice. Any entity that does not express support gets "cancelled" or "banned." Today's offering was Starbucks.

[sinklair]

R: 25 is owned by Williams. Sinclair runs the station through a shared services agreement. It’s a sham aimed at getting around the FCC’s market cap.

Armstrong flies into town a couple of times a year to tape a couple of shows... but otherwise has no impact on daily newscast decisions, hiring or positioning decisions. Those mandates come directly from Sinclair through its hand picked, in over her head (and white) News Director. Neille only has cared about hiring minorities because of the pressure put on her by the HR Director/party planner to improve the department’s “aesthetics.”

[sinklair]

Here’s some help for 25-66 (and other local stations too) to help improve minority representation at all levels of the newsroom... and why it’s important to have persons of color actually covering diverse communities like Flint:
https://www.rtdna.org/article/repairing ... gfnks8bfpt

I wish Ebony Stith and the Flint chapter of National Association of Black Journalists would weigh in on her former employer’s lackluster efforts to recruit and retain minority journalists.

[sinklair]

R: Here’s more on Armstrong and his “ownership” of WEYI:
https://www.howardstirkholdings.com/

[sinklair]

Owned by Armstrong Williams/Howard Stirk Holdings.

Williams “pays” Sinclair/his best friend SBG owner David Smith to run the day to day operation of his station. It’s supposed to be editorially independent from Fox 66... but anyone who’s watched either 25 or 66 knows it’s not. Just another example of the lengths Sinclair goes to in order to get around FCC station ownership limits.

[RingtailedFox]

he gets a guaranteed outlet to broadcast his own TV show, and he gets to say he owns a station since he's the head of Howard Stirk Communications... but he pays Sinclair to do all the hard work of actually *running* it so he doesn't have to deal with that hassle...

If you look in FCC filings, Cunningham Broadcasting is basically a shell company for Sinclair as well, since its CEO owns Cunningham, and like Howard Stirk Communications, Cunningham has Local Marketing Agreements with Sinclair for all of its stations, so they're basically Sinclair stations in all but name only.

[sinklair]

R: it’s a great question. Armstrong gets to claim that he’s the biggest black owner of local TV stations in the US... without actually employing any significant persons of color in positions of influence.

[audiophile]

It has been said more once by black station owners in response to the question:

Q: "Why do you employ white engineers?"

A: "I don't want my station to sound like a CB radio!"

[sinklair]

R and Audio: not sure what you’re suggesting... a black person can’t make profits running a TV station. A person of color can’t do engineering?

I’ll use Sinclair and it’s Flint stations as an example that old, white males can do a pretty good job of f*cking up a station. That’s why they need to limit the current trend of station consolidation and encourage more local ownership. It’ll get more voices in the marketplace with an incentive to listen to listen to the issues and voices affecting these communities. If you look at Nexstar, Sinclair and other major local broadcasting groups, there are very few minorities represented in management ranks.

And to quote our President: “What the hell do you have to lose?” The current system is broken beyond repair...

[sinklair]

R: They don’t pay us even the market average. So that ain’t gonna happen.

Instead I’ll use my voice to advocate for change. Maybe that won’t go over your head...

I’m not sure why having more diverse voices in a newsroom/station covering communities of color is a bad thing that R seems to be fighting against.

[sinklair]

The only problem I have with Armstrong is that he doesn’t do anything to improve the conditions for “his station.” Words don’t matter. Action does.

R: you obviously don’t see any problem with the current set up. Then you go in a rant about how journalism is dead. Can’t have it both ways, buddy.

[audiophile]

Welcome to Sinclair! Where Black Lives Matter!

<muffled> “We just don’t hire any of them.”

It possible they don't hire on the basis of skin color, but other factors, and that's just how it works out?

[sinklair]

Audio: yes there could be several factors why persons of color don’t get opportunities for any management positions at 25-66... Sinclair’s reputation, poor pay, dysfunctional communication, low station morale that has people leaving rather than growing in the system (AKA grilled cheese days).

Or it could be systematic racism. The FCC released a report this week that says media companies are not doing enough to promote diversity:

https://www.nexttv.com/news/fcc-diversi ... cate+Redux

I give you Sinclair’s 25-66 as exhibit A...

(Silence coming from 25-66’s Chief party planner/HR Director)