Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Sinclair Broadcast Group
July 6, 2017 12:27 AM - Season 4, Episode 18 - Subscribe

  • Trump's travel ban is partially-reinstated by the Supreme Court in anticipation of its upcoming full review to not affect refugees with a "credible claim of a bona-fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States," which Trump's State Department took the opportunity to define narrowly to immediate and a select few extended family members, not including grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins or brothers or sisters-in-law. YouTube (5m partial)
  • And Now: CBS 2 Meteorologist John Elliott Engages in a Bit Too Much Self-Deprecation
  • Main Story: The dangers posed by Sinclair ownership of television stations filling local news reports with Fox News-style propaganda, including "must run" conservative pieces. LWT produced a short piece that Tribune stations that might be acquired by Sinclair could air to warn viewers about upcoming biased content that may appear there. YouTube (19m)
  • News that Rachel Maddow bought a wax figure of President Eisenhower from the closed Hall of Presidents and First Ladies in Gettysburg, Steven Colbert bought Zachary Taylor, Jon Steward bought Martin Van Buren, and LWT bought five President statues: Nixon, Clinton, Carter, Harrison and Warren G. Harding, that last one of which became the main character of a movie trailer LWT made, with Campbell Scott, Anna Kendrick, Michael McKean, James Cromwell and Laura Linney. YouTube (9m)


Donald Trump: "The 'Bachelor in Paradise' of American Presidents."
Sarah Huckabee-Sanders: "The least-amusing cast member in a direct-to-DVD , faith-based romantic comedy."
Tucker Carlson: "Human lacrosse stick"

Mark Hyman:
Boris Epstein: "[...]a rejected extra

F.37: "Ooois Aaahum," 4th OF JULY

The Hill: Cour order may hold up Sinclair purchase of Tribute TV stations -- a holdup due to a court-issued stay on the acquisition
Variety: Sinclair Broadcast Group Sets $3.9 Billion Deal to Acquire Tribune Media -- reveals that Sinclair will go heavily into debt to purchase the stations, and the deal was hastened by the lax regulatory environment of Trump's FCC.
NYTimes: Sinclair Unveils Tribune Deal, Raising Worries It Will Be Too Powerful -- Echoes LWT's concerns that Sinclair will become another Fox News, but one that people must rely upon for some of their local news coverage. It also notes the possibility that Sinclair may well hire Bill O'Reilly as a commentator.
posted by JHarris (8 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
and Laura Linney

Ahem, I believe that should be Laura Fucking Linney.

I'm glad they did something about Sinclair. I had read a couple headlines and knew generally they were bad, but didn't realize it was this bad. When they were showing clips from different stations reading the same story I saw the channel my parents always watched when I was a kid and my heart sank. I need to ask them if they still watch it or have switched to a different local news station. I was surprised LWT didn't make a website to find out if your local station is owned/operated by Sinclair, but Wikipedia has a list.
posted by noneuclidean at 5:06 AM on July 6, 2017 [8 favorites]


Yeah, the Sinclair expose is a really great PSA that really needs to be disseminated more widely. "Conservative" media in the USA needs to be purged by fire - but that's not going to happen because money.

The wax presidents thing was totally baller - I think that it's awesome that Oliver upstaged Stewart upstaging Colbert. I'd like to think that there really wasn't any collusion, just an obvious opportunity that everyone tried to take advantage of, and Oliver got the win by airing last.
posted by porpoise at 9:36 AM on July 6, 2017 [6 favorites]


2/2 history nerds in this house agree, we would watch the hell out of that Harding movie.
posted by Flannery Culp at 4:06 PM on July 6, 2017 [5 favorites]


I love that he bought FIVE presidents and made a movie about Harding. What a delight.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:28 PM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


If you're curious, here are the results from that wax museum auction.

Not surprisingly, the wax First Ladies sold for less than their wax husbands, with Grace Coolidge leading the pack at $880.
posted by dr_dank at 11:58 PM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]


Not surprisingly, the wax First Ladies sold for less than their wax husbands

Before anyone jumps to conclusions, it should be noted the first lady wax statues are not life sized but are all 3'10".
posted by Gary at 11:48 AM on July 7, 2017 [4 favorites]


I was aware that Sinclair had bought one of the local stations but I never paid much attention, except for the occasional Mark Hyman editorial which seemed to run at weird times like they hoped no one was watching. Last year I consciously made the effort to switch to another channel if I was watching when the news came on. A couple weeks ago though I had it on in the background and that Terrorism Watch Desk came on and I was like, wtf? What gets me is, the "reporter" clearly is not one of the familiar locals and likewise is not someone recognizable from the network news. It's like an infomercial that's been stripped in. I can't believe anyone would give it credence. Just the concept of a terrorism watch! during the local news--typical lead story: Town X Decides Not To Build New High School--is absurd.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:30 PM on July 7, 2017 [2 favorites]


Oliver was on the Late Show and apparently there was no collusion, Colbert, Stewart, and Oliver all (apparently) independently sent people to obtain presidents wax.
posted by porpoise at 1:58 PM on July 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


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