Prez: No sin in Sinclair

President Trump on Monday lauded Sinclair Broadcast Group as being “superior” to CNN and “Fake NBC” after the company was condemned for requiring its anchors to deliver canned speeches about “false news.”

“So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased,” Trump tweeted. “Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.”

Sinclair, which owns or operates 193 television stations across the country, requires its newscasters to recite the same speech warning about “false news” during “must-run” segments.

Trump’s defense of the company comes as the Federal Communications Commission’s internal watchdog is examining Sinclair’s $3.9 billion planned purchase of Tribune Media, which would expand its audience to 72 percent of the country, in- cluding New York.

In the scripts, Sinclair anchors denounce the “troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media. This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.”

The spots began running last month, CNN reported, even though staffers at some of the Sinclair stations balked at promoting a message they believe weakens their credibility.

“It sickens me the way this company is encroaching upon trusted news brands in rural markets,” a Sinclair reporter told CNN.

A video of the spots went viral over the weekend after Deadspin.com posted a compilation of anchors across the country reciting identical lines.

Sinclair has also required stations to air commentary from former Trump aide Boris Epshteyn, who is Sinclair’s chief political analyst.