Sinclair Broadcast Group will stop producing the must-run political commentary segments that have attracted the company a lot of criticism since former Trump White House staffer Boris Epshteyn began hosting them.
In addition to Epshteyn, who will be moving to a “sales-focused role with the company,” Sinclair recently hired Ameshia Cross to present the Democratic perspective in the network’s political commentary.
Instead, Sinclair will be focusing more resources on local investigative journalism.
“We have to shine a light on our value proposition every quarter hour, in every newscast,” the company on Wednesday told staff in a memo, which was first reported by NBC News. “Therefore, we will be expanding our local investigative journalism footprint in our daily newscasts. We are excited to dedicate more time in our newscasts to report on critical and relevant issues. To allot additional airtime for this storytelling, we will be ending the commentary segments this Friday, Dec. 13, featuring Ameshia Cross, and Boris Epshteyn.”
Epshteyn, Sinclair’s most prominent political commentator, joined the network in April 2017, after spending a few months working in the White House. Now the network’s chief political commentator, he hosts a Bottom Line With Boris segment that is often very favorable to the president.
Some employees at local television networks that are Sinclair affiliates have complained about having to run the segments, which are labeled as opinion.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Sinclair spokesperson Ronn Torossian for comment.
