Md. gubernatorial candidate boycotts Sinclair over media bias segments

A Democrat running for governor in Maryland is vowing to not run any ads on Sinclair-owned stations after the network mandated local news anchors read messages decrying “fake news” and “media bias.”

Krish Vignarajah said she will not run campaign ads on any Sinclair stations until the network stops requiring anchors to read the statements, The Baltimore Sun reported.

“I promise not to advertise on any of Sinclair’s local affiliates, unless the company stops using local airwaves as propaganda machines or local affiliates refuse to be complicit in Sinclair’s political agenda,” Vignarajah said in a statement, according to the Sun.

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She also called for other candidates in the race to follow her lead.

At least one other hopeful in another race has announced a boycott of Sinclair over the segments.

Democrat Amy McGrath, who is running for a congressional seat in Kentucky, pulled her ads from a local Sinclair-owned station.

“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 and eerily mimics the propaganda efforts that authoritarian regimes often use to control the media in their own country,” McGrath said in a statement. 

Sinclair has faced backlash for mandating that local anchors read the statement criticizing media bias at other news outlets after a supercut of segments went viral over the weekend.

On Monday, President Trump defended the broadcasting company, saying in a tweet that, “Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.”