By Adam Pagnucco.
When Sinclair Broadcasting Group Executive Chairman David D. Smith bought the Baltimore Sun in January, concerns immediately arose that Smith would move the newspaper closer to the views of his right-wing TV stations. Now the Baltimore Sun Guild is alleging that the Sun has begun “publishing articles from Sinclair Broadcast Group and its television station in Baltimore, Fox45” that violate the newspaper’s own publication standards. The union is now demanding a meeting with Sun management to “explain the long-term strategy for the paper, and any agreements with Fox45 or Sinclair” and asking that all sharing of Sinclair content be paused.
This is good news for the Baltimore Banner, which is mounting a credible challenge to the Sun for the allegiance of Baltimore area readers.
The Baltimore Sun Guild’s press release is reprinted below.
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STATEMENT FROM THE BALTIMORE SUN GUILD
By Jay Hearn
June 10, 2024
12:45 pm
Contact: baltsunguild@gmail.com
Within the past few weeks — without notifying the dedicated journalists of the Baltimore Sun Guild — The Baltimore Sun began publishing articles from Sinclair Broadcast Group and its television station in Baltimore, Fox45.
We are concerned that the nature of the relationship between Sinclair and The Sun has not been made clear to us or to our readers. And one of the first articles published from Sinclair failed to meet The Sun’s standards.
That article, published June 3, made repeated references to “illegal immigrants,” a term that is not used in The Sun, per industry best practices from the Associated Press, which do not condone referring to people as “illegal.” This error was later corrected, but the story’s framing remains concerning. As originally published, it described an immigration policy using only police and immigration enforcement sources, excluding meaningful context.
It was not the first time that The Sun’s ethical standards have been tossed aside under new ownership. In the opinion pages, co-owner Armstrong Williams has used offensive language to describe transgender people, flouting the best practices once adhered to by The Sun. In a May 8 column, he likened the “transgender movement” to a “cancer,” and used the terms “biological male” and “biological female” to exclude transgender people, which AP style instructs journalists to avoid.
While we want our opinion pages to include a diverse range of opinions, we believe at minimum, industry standards must be followed and articles published should not be discriminatory. Our efforts to engage with management to address these content issues have not yielded change.
In a changing newsroom and industry, Baltimore Sun Guild members have continued to deliver quality journalism, covering the Francis Scott Key Bridge tragedy, primary elections — and our owner’s political activities. We have upheld the standards of The Sun. And we will not be left in the dark about its future.
We demand the following of Baltimore Sun management:
- Hold a meeting with all staff members to address our concerns and explain the long-term strategy for the paper, and any agreements with Fox45 or Sinclair.
- Stop the sharing of articles, photos, videos and social media content from Fox45 and Sinclair until such a meeting can be held.
- Ensure that all stories published in The Baltimore Sun adhere to the same journalistic standards that we are held to as union members, including The Sun’s Cultural Competency Guide created by the newsroom’s Diversity Committee.
To our readers: We hope you will stand with us and tell publisher Trif Alatzas (talatzas@baltsun.com) to hear our concerns and protect the journalistic values of The Baltimore Sun.