Sinclair is backing off commentary of its own chief political analyst, Boris, that its stations were required to air this week. The referenced commentary by Epshteyn, a Russian-born former aide to President Trump, was aired Tuesday on Sinclair’s KATV, Channel 7.  As David Ramsey’s blog report noted yesterday, in the segment Epshteyn said all those brown people at the border seeking asylum from violence in the home countries are in fact trying to take over the United States: “The fact of the matter is that this is an attempted invasion of our country. Period,” Epshteyn said. He followed that up with a smear on the left: “It unfortunately appears that there are many on the left who believe it is wrong to defend our country and abide by the rule of law.”

Asked about the segment, KATV’s news director Nick Genty said the Epshteyn commentary was no different from editorial opinion in the newspaper, and that no one objects to the Epshteyn segments, or other boilerplate that Sinclair mandates its anchors parrot, until other media outlets report on them. He said sites like Media Matters, which Ramsey reported on, were shaping public opinion, rather than the segments themselves. It’s possible, however, perhaps even likely, that response is lacking because no one is seeing them in their spot after the 5:30 a.m. Morning Show, nor does KATV run them on their website or Facebook page, where comments may be made.

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Sinclair is now backing off its own produced commentary, and in a follow-up tweet, said the company “genuinely wants to hear from you: https://wjla.com/content-concerns.”

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