I had been working as a video editor at KHGI in Kearney, Neb., for about two years when Sinclair Broadcast Group purchased the station in 2016. It didn’t take long for the segments our new parent company said we had to air during our local news broadcasts to arrive.

The segments ranged from one to three minutes long and were intended to appear in the middle of our newscasts: “Behind the Headlines” with Mark Hyman, which was commentary on national political issues; “Bottom Line with Boris,” hosted by former Donald Trump aide Boris Epshteyn; and the “Terrorism Alert Desk,” which discussed apparent terrorism going on around the world and sometimes used unverifiable sources. Sometimes these were labeled as commentary. But most “must-runs” were slanted, and they sometimes went straight into blatant fearmongering.

About five months after Sinclair bought the station, they promoted me from editor to producer, which meant I was more directly involved in newsroom management. I was hesitant to take the new role at first, because the ownership group seemed heavy-handed, but when I realized I didn’t have to sign a new contract, I went ahead.