Sinclair Broadcast Group’s public relations machine is working overtime after fallout from forcing local news anchors to read a statement decrying “false news.” The company’s strategy includes a corporate propaganda video and an op-ed in The Daily Caller, both of which are the work of a PR firm run by a man who is notorious for, among other things, sending an email to a former co-worker with the almost admirably straightforward subject line, “YOU STUPID C***.” Almost – but not quite.
I’ll get to that, but first, let’s consider the things the video and op-ed have in common, aside from earning the generous distinction from me of being “not that well written.” For one thing, they both paint Sinclair as a victim – a pretty ballsy tactic coming from one of the most powerful media companies in the country. You almost have to respect that. Almost – but not quite.
They both use “what aboutism” to send the blame in another direction. In the video, 5W Public Relations makes use of the dual meaning of fake news to claim evidence for CNN’s “dishonesty and hypocrisy.” This is done by pairing CNN segments on fake news (as in, the “plague” of totally fake news stories on totally fake news sites) with portions of Sinclair’s statement, the same statement that led to a viral video that caused this little image hiccup in the first place.
“So, in 2016 and 2017,” the video says, “CNN was worried about ‘Fake News’….and was warning people about it…That concern about biased and fake news sounds a lot like what Sinclair anchors talked about in 2018….”
Along with every politician who’s said the phrase when a story comes out that he doesn’t like, Sinclair wants us to believe that both versions of fake news are the same thing. Sinclair wants us to think that the story that Walmart bananas infected eight children with HIV and nonpartisan accountability journalism are equally deserving of the label.
“Fake news is a problem,” the video concludes. “Everyone knows it. Calling out Sinclair for calling out ‘Fake News’ is dishonest and reprehensible. Is it really news that ‘fake news’ is a concern in 2018?”
To return to something I mentioned earlier, both the video and the op-ed revisit the original statement that led to such negative attention, rerunning it in part or full. A PR flack doubling down on a maligned message like that would seem like an act of cruelty against his clients under normal circumstances. Instead, perhaps taking a cue from NRATV, 5W guaranteed the messages would run free of context on YouTube and The Daily Caller. Like the American flag planted on the moon, they’re entities unto themselves, operating in their own worlds, worlds where they can wave and wave and no one and nothing will ever hurt them again.
Still, it’s hard to shake that Sinclair’s PR strategy is, to use another generous distinction, “not very good.”
The op-ed was written by Ronn Torossian, the CEO for 5W and spokesman/PR guy for Sinclair, a relationship that was omitted in The Daily Caller.
I Googled Torossian, something that Sinclair may or may not have done before hiring him. If they did, for reasons that are about to become clear, one can only conclude that no one else was available.
This old Gawker post showed up on the first page of my Google search. I’m not an entrenched national news reporter, but it appears that 10 years ago, Torossian was notorious to those who are.
“He gets more press for himself than just about anybody else in PR, and consequently, has a huge effect on how people perceive the industry as a whole,” Hamilton Nolan wrote. “And that drives a lot of people crazy, because he is just a terrible representative.”
Nolan called Torossian “a hustler; and, as a PR professional, he has no idea what he’s doing.”
There’s more. According to Gawker, Torossian sued his former HR director, Melissa Weiss, alleging that she had violated her contract. But her attorney said at the time that Weiss had learned before the suit that Torossian wasn’t paying his employees overtime – a labor law violation. She was fired and took legal action when her final pay was withheld.
Gawker posted some colorful emails from Torssian to Weiss that pose an ironic PR disaster. His emails use the C-word multiple times, along with the very professional phrase, “Fuck you very much,” which also appears in various forms multiple times. He sent one of those emails directly to Weiss’ attorney, which was, to use yet another generous distinction, “not such a great idea.” That said, it was still a move made by a man who people actually pay to help them craft their image.
That’s why I’d like to end this post with an important message: Kids, you can be anything you want to be if you really put your mind to it. Skills, education, common sense, hard work – these are all nice. Pretty good, even! But to achieve true greatness, all you need is a certain je ne sais quoi.
And that’s almost true. But not quite.
Contact Mollie Bryant at 405-990-0988 or bryant@bigiftrue.org. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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