newsguardtechnologies.com on twitter, at newsguard rating. thanks so much for your time morning. guest: you're well come. >> and coming up, live in about 10 minutes, we'll take you to of maryland in college park for a debate between former mexican president, vincente fox and former leader of the u.k. party, once nashvillenationalism and global. discusse on c-span 2, a about u.s. foreign policy and u.s. influence in the world, on foreignhe council 6:30.lrelations, live at then local, state and federal the opioidbating epidemic. and on c-span 3, it's american history t.v. with a look back at 1968. new york senator robert kennedy announced his decision to run for the democratic

for president. c.e.o. week, facebook mark zuckerberg will testify before senate and house committees on facebook's handling of user information and 2:15privacy, tuesday at p.m. eastern on c-span 3, in a joint hearing before the senate judiciary and commerce committees. on wednesday at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span 3, before the house and commerce committee. watch live coverage on c-span 3 listen liverg and with the free c-span radio app. >> armstrong williams is back with us, as we continue this conversation about fake news and the state of journalism. host, talk show columnist, honor of more than dozen television stations. on this term fake news, how do you define that? deceptive,, it's misleading. you're more concerned about your

theda than you are about truth. and the facts. spectrums,ens on all the left and the right. thatne of the things people should always be guaranteed is when they listen to satellite radio or broadcast networks, whether they listen to t.v. providers, is that what you're reporting is the facts, the truth. now, sometimes you can get your facts wrong. sometimes your sources can you and outright lie to you and manipulate to you, because they also have an agenda. an obligation to correct it immediately or to vet possible.e as much as if there's any inclination that the story does not add up and not be verifiable than you story, from print and also discussing it on the airways. host: when we talk about

journalism and fake news, are concerned about misinformation or editorial bias creeping in? don't think,, i john, facebook is in the news with google -- they're in the spotlight. position thatual they find themselves in. there's so much under scrutiny today that would have been unimaginable a couple of years ago. andwith cambridge analytica what has come out with facebook, i ask this question. has done, they have done it through algorithms, whatfferent than newspapers, cable networks, networks do in the editorial room. decide what's gonna go on the air. they decide the importance of a story. and so what it means is when you're in a position, as an producer, and you own these networks, you sort of have because influence, there's no such thing as freedom

of speech in my opinion unless you own the media. i try to do as a broadcast owner, of television the country,ss also as a columnist as well, i'm unapologetic about thirdct that i'm a generation journalist. it has nothing to do with the republican party, conservatism. grew up in a very strong pentecostal faith. parents believed in god, in the 10 commandments, so that my value system. but as a media owner and as a writer, i want to remain neutral i bring into the marketplace of ideas and of and of commenting. no matter how i may feel about and i'm a licensed gun owner, i try to keep my personal my writing, out of my reporting and out of the ourgnments that we give to television stations across the country. and gets what?

this is difficult. we all have biases. believe that we have a certain vision of how the world should run, and what we believe right.k is what is unfortunate and what has happened today -- and i used to these people. i invested so much on the right, in believing in the republican the conservative party, that i forgot about the purity and integrity of my ideas. i began to sacrifice my ideas, my beliefs for a party and for ideologues and i went through no child left behind. then i realized i lost my own identity. so you have to stru struggle tot back, to make sure that you're here to give both sides and allow people to come to their own conclusion. host: you mentioned the guidance you give to the television stations you own. about that process, and put on the television station owner hat for a second? that guidance? is it specific stories they should cover, trends in the your that you think audience wants to hear about?

guest: i'm glad you asked that question. you talk about the newsroom. the newsrooms, when we buy stations, whether it's in myrtle charleston, south carolina, or tuscaloosa, vegas --m, las host: it's seven stations at the moment? guest: yes. basically you would say it's liberal. i try not to get involved in the newsroom. thewill not hear me on phone saying we should run this story, we should do that story. what cnnhat, for labeled some of their sinclair anchors as zombies was totally unfair and just downright silly. work very hard. and they will tell you, whether it's sinclair or someone else -- not for davis smith and sinclair, i would not be an owner of television stations the country today. sinclair broadcast group gave me that opportunity. and so you have to be careful.

you don't want a heavy hand in newsroom. most journalists, most journals i know on the left and on the to haveeally want integrity. they really want to do what is right. fair andly want to be honorable in their reporting, which is very difficult sometimes. you leave newsroom alone. but what you do have, you have what is called commentary. at the end of my broadcasts, i may offer a 30-second commentary, because i feel so strongly about what's going on with guns, what's going onin florida, what's going with terrorism, with the withmy, what's going on dhaka, what i will do is step away from that and offer a commentary that's my own, where i give my opinion. you will see those commentaries. unscripted. it's my opinion, it's what i believe. but it never spills over in the department, because i have the opportunity, in other shows i do. aboutand we can talk more that process.

armstrong williams with us. numbers if you want to join the conversation, 202-748-8001 for republicans. democrats.0 for for independents. we'll start with miriam in aberdeen, north carolina this morning. line for democrats. morning.ood caller: good morning. and it's marion. in 2013, when i was watching channel wpde channel 15 carolina, because my sister lives in south carolina and i was interested in what's going on in her state, and i noticed all these hideous-looking people. in other words, you expect on television to be at least moderately nice-looking. they start reading scripts. and i identified this way back then and i was furious and they were -- you know, they had

christine and jay and they were featuring the tea party, the heritage foundation, the taxpayer alliance. so insult -- and so insulting to president obama. such fake news. the news director on a number of occasions, she here forl, i've been 20 years, but we've been bought by sinclair broadcasting and there's nothing we can do about it. and i am so angry at the general media for taking so long, like the new york times. i'm glad they're following up a bit late, like five years late or more? williams?trong guest: well, victoria is also our news director and billy general manager, until he recently decided to move on to other things. john, all news, whether it's abc, the big networks, it's scripted. it has to do with the

litigious society we find ourselves in, because broadcast networks can get sued. anchors,t's cnn, the they're reading from a prompter. unfortunately, that's the way it happens. them byon-fed to producers, by staff. they're never unscripted. okay? way the business works. host: when it comes to your anchors and the scripts that read on air, how far up do those scripts go to get reviewed? guest: to the television level. it doesn't come up to the corporate level. may say, i want this commentary in this show. i may do a commentary and say i want you to run my commentary at this time. but never infused -- we separate that from the news. scripted.'s all it's where we find can you imagine and 60 minutes decided to do the story with lawyersaniels, how many

viewed the script before they go on there because they want to make sure they don't get sued. lawyers have a lot of impact when you do these diving research. after the story came out, this is from today's edition of the new york times in their continued reporting about the controversy surrounding sinclair. he says we are not sure of the motivation for criticism. we find it carry us that we would be attacked for asking newspeople to remind the audience that up substantiated stories exist on social media, which result in l informed public with potential dangerous consequences. this specific controversy at sinclair and what they were thatng about in that video made the rounds, how controversial do think it is? i think steve brill, who i have known for a very long time, said west a few minutes

earlier on the show. for bait him, the script. sinclair was not only talking about fox, msnbc, cnn, they were also talking about. themselves if you see we are doing this in and take issues with us, call us. they were to restore integrity in journalism. when you see fake news, everybody is impacted by the loss of credibility. don't think just because it is sinclair broadcast group that we get a pass. we want to say to people, we are not in the business of fake news. we believe and journalistic integrity. we believe in standards, honesty and fairness, and we feel we should not be biased. this is one thing cigar decided to do, he decided to do market research if there were to use this particular message on national tv, and how would you respond. over 70% of people who watch

that said they would watch our news and trust our news. isis not about some car, it about the integrity of the entire industry. host: to california. steve, are you with us? you are on with armstrong williams. this short, i am listening and not very educated, but i hear your words. by --st thing i can go once money is involved, it trickles down. skeptical, il and ,ave learned this through life and it is to believe that everything is a lie. if i go by that, i can judge the truth for myself. guest:, and it he makes one point, many

people feel the way he does. not that everything is a lie, but everything is suspect and questionable. at some point, yet the remind people, i get up in the morning and search for truth. not for lies and deceit. i'm not here to mislead you or to be a sycophant for the president or anybody else. i am here to make sure that you understand our broadcast networks that you can watch as that what we report is as close you get to the truth and there is no bias and only leans towards the truth. at a democratic line, republican line, and independent line, every voice matters. the truth transcends all of it. host: do you think people are casual in throwing out the term fake news? guest: there is a war between

the president of united states and the media. whether people want to admit it or not, president trump has a lot of credibility, and a lot of cachet. people want to believe their president and give them the benefit of doubt. i think president trump has said enough that is having an impact. and then you have networks like cnn and msnbc and others having to retract statements, having to apologize because the story is wrong. be 25% of the time, but that is the 25% of the time 25% ofremember, because it is member, not the 75% that you inform and educate people. unfortunately, people will remember those stories, and with the presidents -- and along the way, the mainstream media will at least make an effort, to the extent of the president not to harp on every petty issue.

elect donaldt trump to be the moral comcast or parents to their children. they knew what donald trump was when he ran for office. get over it. let us deal with the real issues. host: and the advice you get the president trump in the story, make it less about the oval and more about america. guest: i respect the office of the presidency and also respect the president. and i takeresident, pride of who we are as americans. but there are times when there are certain things the president doesn't need to tweak about. the discipline and judgment and temperament to not always respond. he sets the tone for the country.