When David D. Smith bought the Baltimore Sun in January, staffers worried about how the newspaper might change under an outspoken owner who has supported conservative candidates and right-wing culture-war causes.
Five months later, they’re starting to get an idea.
The union representing the newspaper’s journalists said Monday that articles that do not meet the Sun’s standards have appeared on its website, including a one-sided story about immigration policies and an op-ed by the Sun’s co-owner likening the “transgender movement” to a “cancer.”
In addition, journalists say that stories under their names have been changed without their permission, and that the Sun has been reusing reporting from one of the 185 local television stations owned by the Smith family’s Sinclair Broadcast Group.
This week, according to the union, two reporters demanded their bylines be removed from a news report after it was significantly altered without their knowledge.
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“Within the past few weeks … the Baltimore Sun began publishing articles from Sinclair Broadcast Group and its television station in Baltimore, Fox 45,” the union said in a statement. “The Sun’s ethical standards have been tossed aside under new ownership.”
Sinclair’s local television stations have long staked out politically conservative perspectives in its news programming. In 2018, for example, Sinclair broadcasters around the country were compelled to read a script prepared by Sinclair during the newscast that parroted Donald Trump’s rhetoric about the “fake” news media. And recent programming has played on audience fears that America’s cities, especially those run by Democrats, are dangerous and dysfunctional, another GOP talking point. Smith, Sinclair’s board chairman and an enthusiastic Trump supporter, encouraged the Sun to emulate Fox45 when he took over the newspaper.
On June 3, the Sun republished a story by Fox45 reporter Julian Baron, almost identical to a version that had appeared on the TV station’s website several days earlier. Headlined “Baltimore County releases illegal immigrants charged with crimes despite federal requests,” the story cited only police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. The later version that ran on the Sun’s website included a statement from a spokesperson for the county executive’s office disputing the report.
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The union noted in its statement that the story “made repeated references to ‘illegal immigrants,’ a term that is not used in The Sun, per industry best practices from the Associated Press, which do not condone referring to people as ‘illegal.’” The Sun story was later updated to remove those terms and add a comment defending the county from Baltimore County’s executive, but the union complained that “the story’s framing remains concerning.”
The union also pointed to a May 8 column written by Baltimore Sun co-owner Armstrong Williams that likened the “transgender movement” to a “cancer” and called on “those with rational minds [to] lose their reluctance to opine on the matter.” The column also used the terms “biological male” and “biological women,” which the AP style guide cautions against.
“While we want our opinion pages to include a diverse range of opinions, we believe at minimum, industry standards must be followed and articles published should not be discriminatory,” the union said.
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In an emailed statement, Williams told The Post that he respects the opinions of the Baltimore Sun Guild and shares its appreciation of diverse viewpoints.
“I assume the Guild reciprocally appreciates legitimate managerial prerogatives in the journalistic enterprise. Constructive criticism is always welcome even if ultimately found unpersuasive,” he added.
Two Sun reporters demanded their names be removed from another story after it was altered after publication to include information from Fox45, according to Baltimore Sun Guild unit chair Christine Condon.
On June 8, the Sun published the staff-written story about a shooting that wounded a teenager in Fells Point. The headline of the story was “16-year-old girl shot in Fells Point altercation, police say” and described the incident, in which the girl was shot twice in the wrist by an unidentified man.
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Two days later, the story was overhauled, without an editor’s note explaining the changes, and had a new headline with a different focus: “Fells Point business owner reacts to weekend crowds, shooting.” The report itself was recast from a crime story to a piece built around a Fox45 interview with a local business owner who complained about the “disturbances in the area” and the mayor’s handling of “Black kids.”
“The story changed shape and the journalists pulled their names from it, which is something our contract allows us to do,” Condon said. (The story now bears a byline of “Baltimore Sun staff.”)
“We are concerned that the nature of the relationship between Sinclair and The Sun has not been made clear to us or to our readers,” the union said in its statement, calling on Sun management to stop publishing Fox45 content and to ensure that all stories it runs adhere to the newspaper’s journalistic standards.
“To our readers,” the union said, “we hope you will stand with us and tell publisher Trif Alatzas to hear our concerns and protect the journalistic values of The Baltimore Sun.”
A spokesperson for Sinclair Broadcast Group declined to comment.
