Poisoning The Well: The View Of Sinclair Broadcast Group From Flint

As far as media markets go, you’d be hard-pressed to find one with a greater need for fair and sober reporting than Flint (MI). The city’s march into the 21st century has been set to a drumbeat of setbacks and injustices: the decline of its manufacturing sector, a dysfunctional city government, the poisoning of its water and the subsequent cover-ups by public officials.

Sinclair has a major presence in Flint, owning or operating the local Fox, NBC and CW affiliates. At a time when many local activists are battling the small-government, laissez-faire agenda of Gov Rick Snyder (R-MI) and the emergency managers he’s appointed since 2011 to oversee the city’s finances, the fact that three of the city’s TV stations are controlled by an aggressively conservative broadcaster is deeply troubling to those activists. An even colder comfort is that many Flint residents view the news with a high degree of skepticism ― whether it originates from Sinclair or elsewhere. Journalists were so late to the story of the polluted water supply, and still don’t report enough on the role of the emergency managers, that many here say faith in the media’s ability to address their woes is deeply broken