UPDATE: Sinclair lashes out, calls Popular Information's reporting "outrageous and offensive"

The headquarters of the Sinclair Broadcast Group in Hunt Valley, Maryland (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, Popular Information reported that Sinclair Broadcast Group injected deceptive attacks on Biden's age into dozens of local news broadcasts. Sinclair owns or operates 186 local news affiliates and is run by David Smith, a right-wing media mogul. In collaboration with Public Notice, the report documented how dozens of local news stations owned by Sinclair promoted a deeply flawed Wall Street Journal story questioning Biden's mental acuity. 

The premise of the Wall Street Journal story was that Biden "shows signs of slipping" in private meetings. But the only person quoted on the record to support that thesis was former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), a partisan interested in damaging Biden politically. Worse, McCarthy had previously praised Biden's competence during meetings. Independent media critics panned the piece, saying it had "glaring problems."  

Popular Information's report included a six-minute video compilation featuring dozens of local Sinclair anchors reading from an identical script. Again and again, the anchors say that the Wall Street Journal is "out with new reporting calling into question the mental fitness of President Joe Biden," adding that the issue "could be an election decider."

The exposé quickly went viral online, racking up nearly 1 million views on social media sites. It then reached millions more on cable news. On Wednesday morning, MSNBC's Morning Joe devoted a lengthy segment to the story. "It's really not local reporting. It's spoon-fed from a right-wing… group that's spreading disinformation," host Joe Scarborough said. 

The story was also picked up by several national media outlets. 

And on Wednesday night, I appeared on MSNBC's Alex Wagner tonight to discuss Sinclair's conduct. 

Sinclair was not happy. In a statement, a member of Sinclair's Corporate Communications team said that Popular Information's reporting was "outrageous and offensive."

But Sinclair's statement ignored the central point of Popular Information's reporting, which was that Sinclair was amplifying the Wall Street Journal's flawed story. 

Instead, much of the email focused on defending the practice of requiring dozens of purportedly independent news affiliates to read an identical script. Sinclair said that practice "ensures local station anchors can accurately introduce the footage" and "conserves resources, allowing local producers in each affiliate market more time for newsgathering." 

Sinclair also said that "using a preproduced script for a package that has been provided by another media outlet is a common practice." Of course, in this case, the package was not produced by "another media outlet." It was produced by Sinclair, the corporate parent of the affiliates. 

Sinclair is notorious for requiring affiliates to run its national political content, which has a decidedly right-wing slant. Asked if affiliates could choose not to run the segment questioning Biden's mental fitness, Sinclair did not respond.