Sinclair Broadcast Group is eliminating syndicated controversial political commentaries that air on many of its TV station's newscasts.
The commentaries, called "The Point," are hosted by Sinclair's VP of Corporate Relations Mark Hyman and have been produced in Baltimore and funneled out to Sinclair stations across the country. Critics have said the commentaries are right-leaning and accuse Sinclair of unfairly using its stations local news to push a conservative political agenda.
The Point was created in 2002, and Hyman has delivered more than 2,000 segments. The commentaries were part of Sinclair's centralized news operation NewsCentral, which provided large chunks of news for the majority of Sinclair's news-producing stations. Last fall, however, Sinclair drastically scaled back NewsCentral and cancelled news on many of its former WB and Fox stations. But Hyman continued to produce The Point.
Sinclair says Hyman wants to spend more time on business issues, but will occasionally go on air to comment on current events.
