Amy McGrath pulls ad from Sinclair-owned TV station in Lexington for 'fake news' message

Thomas Novelly
Courier Journal
This undated photo provided by her congressional campaign, shows retired Lt. Col. Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot, who announced Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017, that she will seek the Democratic nomination for Congress in Kentucky's 6th District.

A Democratic congressional candidate said she is pulling her advertising from a Lexington TV station owned by Sinclair media as the company faces backlash for having anchors read a statement about "fake news."

Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns nearly 200 TV stations in the United States, is under fire after a video mashup showing dozens of their anchors repeating the same message about "one-sided" news stories went viral this week. 

Amy McGrath, a retired Marine pilot who is challenging Republic incumbent U.S. Rep. Andy Barr in the District 6 election in Kentucky, issued a statement asking her campaign to pull all funding from Sinclair-owned Fox station WDKY-TV.

"Sinclair's corporate-mandated 'must-read' right-wing script on its nearly 200 television stations about 'fake news' is itself an extreme danger to our Democracy," McGrath said on Twitter," and (it) eerily mimics the propaganda efforts that authoritarian regimes often use to control the media in their own country." 

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The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that McGrath pulled $5,000 worth of advertising this week.

In a statement issued on WDKY-TV's website, Scott Livingston, Sinclair’s Senior Vice President of News said he wasn't sure what the motivation for the mass criticism was.

“It is ironic that we would be attacked for messages promoting our journalistic initiative for fair and objective reporting, and for specifically asking the public to hold our newsrooms accountable," Livingston said. "Our local stations keep our audiences’ trust by staying focused on fact-based reporting and clearly identifying commentary.”

The Sinclair message that ran across the country criticized national media outlets for publishing fake stories "without checking facts first.”

Representatives from WDKY-TV did not return comment Tuesday morning on whether or not the station read the message.

President Donald Trump tweeted his support for Sinclair.

"So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased," Trump tweeted. "Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke."

In addition to taking on Barr, McGrath faces a crowded Democratic primary that includes Lexington Mayor Jim Gray as well as state Sen. Reggie Thomas. The primary is on May 22. 

"I call on all Democratic across the country to take a firm stand against this frightening development to our Democracy and refuse to buy advertising time on all Sinclair-owned TV stations," McGrath said. 

Thomas Novelly can be reached at 502-582-4465 or by email at tnovelly@courier-journal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/tomn.