“The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media. More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories without checking facts first. This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.”

If these words sound familiar, that is because they have been for the past two weeks. Following the fallout from Sinclair Broadcast Group’s controversial promotional campaign, viewers and news organizations have taken a stand against the media monster.

After a compilation of numerous TV anchors repeating identical scripts gained viral attention last week, Sinclair, which owns 193 local stations across the United States, had its work cut out for it, backpedaling atop a corporate practice many believed to be in contradiction to the ethics of independent news. But while companies pull their ads and viewers review which channels to avoid, it should be noted that this contentious practice has overstayed its welcome for years now. 

According to The Washington Post, Sinclair’s obvious goal is to reach 72 percent of American households if its acquisition of Tribune Media is a success. However, with this aspiration has come a sudden spike in what the New York Times has labeled ‘station must-runs,’ which is basically TV for mandatory work unless you want to get fired. 

These are handcrafted scripts and stories from company higher-ups that station managers are absolutely required to run at any given point, no questions asked. The results have often been no better than what we have uncovered this past week.

What the public is learning is the disconcerting reality that it is being falsely led on, or at the very least being shamelessly indoctrinated to think a certain way by some news outlets, calling those who champion opposing points of view “fake news,” while the others echo the same sentiment in return. 

At this point it seems like the whole fake news gag evolved from a pesky internet meme to a legitimate point of concern, sparking a discussion about what constitutes as reputable and what does not. 

This mentality has not only pressured both those who provide the media and those who consume it, but it encourages a noticeable amount of paranoia linked to every hint of information that reaches us nowadays. We have arrived at a point where one really can construe the news as propaganda, if the right talking points are exercised and if the appropriate beliefs are tapped into. 

Certain narratives, both liberal and conservative, have even fallen victim to the temptation of bias – annulling objective journalism in exchange for ratings. As was the case with the 2017 leaked video of one of CNN’s supervising producers, John Bonifield, when asked about the Trump-Russia investigation. “Like, we don’t have any big, giant proof,” Bonifield said. “Our ratings are incredible right now.” While the story has since developed, it was troublesome to hear how such a powerful influence felt about such a relevant issue at the time.

People are on edge, afraid to believe what the other side of their ideals has to say, largely because of antics resembling Sinclair’s. What is worse is that without trust in the very news airing on our television screens, many Americans are rapidly growing fearful of the media’s power. The aftermath of this incident only adds to that cause, especially when it is so blatant it is almost embarrassing. 

“Nothing says we value independent media like dozens of reporters forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult,” said John Oliver on a recent episode of Last Week Tonight. But who is to say that is not the future many news outlets are disturbingly striving for, often without even realizing it?