Sinclair Broadcasting Group, best known for its portfolio of local television stations, has moved into the newsletter space with a new Substack called The National Press. The publication takes reporting originally produced for local TV audiences and repackages it as a video podcast, giving the material a second life beyond its original broadcast window.
The launch arrives as Sinclair continues to expand its digital footprint, and Substack offers a direct-to-consumer channel that bypasses traditional cable and broadcast distribution. The National Press appears to be drawing on the company’s existing local newsrooms to feed a national feed, with recent episodes tackling questions about juvenile sentencing, space debris, and school funding.
For viewers, the format is familiar: short, packaged video segments that feel like a nightly newscast but are built for on-demand listening and watching. For the local stations involved, it is a way to extend the reach of stories that might otherwise stay within their home markets. Whether this model will meaningfully grow Sinclair’s audience or revenue remains to be seen, but it is a notable experiment in adapting local journalism for a national, subscription-based platform.