On The Listening Post this week: A viral video raises concerns about America's biggest TV news network - which might become bigger. Plus, Britain's poverty porn industry.
The monopolisation of local news in the US
It may not be a household name, but the Sinclair Broadcast Group is the biggest local TV news network in the US, with 173 stations.
Sinclair stumbled somewhat clumsily into the limelight this week after it ordered its local TV anchors across the United States to read from a script accusing other news outlets of trying to control "what people think".
The irony, it seems, was lost on the company, which is now trying to expand its reach to 70 percent of Americans.
Getting that deal past the regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, probably won't be an issue. Sinclair has a friend in the White House in Donald Trump, whose administration is currently binging on deregulation.
