Didn’t expect a social platform taking side directly in collaborating with a former politics pundit, but hey, this is post-Musk Twitter - everything can happen for one more penny in the billionaire’s bank account 
Staying with conservative-leaning outlets, Sinclair, the local TV group recently in financial troubles with Bally Sports RSNs, has been chopping local news departments lately. Since mid-March, places like Macon, Columbia, Toledo, Omaha and Gainsville are stopping their own news productions, opting for Sinclair’s The National Desk instead. TVNewscheck has the details:
TVNewsCheck reached out to several employees from each of the stations. Most interview requests went unanswered and two were declined, but three sources from within two of the stations were responsive. They did not wish to reveal their identities out of concerns that Sinclair might take legal action against them or thwart future job opportunities. Collectively, they said 28 people in the two markets lost their jobs.
“I’m still in shock, and just really sad,” said one of the former news team members. “We were all in a room together when a person from Sinclair announced news was not meeting ratings expectations and therefore not appealing to high-dollar sponsorships. Immediately, someone brought up union rules and that they were owed 90 days’ notice. HR replied that they spoke with the union and didn’t say anything else about it.”
“I’m trying to stay positive,” said another source. “It is hard because we, as a smaller newsroom, were very, very close to one another. We considered ourselves a lot more like family than we did coworkers, so it’s been especially hard to see the people I care about hurting as well and knowing there’s nothing I can do to make it feel better.”
“Some of us have seen this coming,” a third person said. “We couldn’t hire anyone, the quality of work was diminishing and some of us, like me, were doing three positions.”
Over in Allentown, Pennsylvania, indie station WFMZ debuted new graphics earlier this week, which holds up well against those big station group ones IMO:
And finally, on your CBS Local Graphics Newswatch™ tonight, WBBM Chicago is the latest to join the queue, and it’s the boring boxed one with their channel number. As of now, only WJZ Baltimore and KOVR Sacramento haven’t made the switch:
NewscastStudio has the story.