In response to a Last Week Tonight segment poking fun at him, Sinclair Broadcasting Group Boris Epshteyn’s latest “Bottom Line with Boris” commentary segment focuses on criticism of his work. Epshteyn, a former Trump campaign and Administration aide, has been Sinclair’s chief political analyst since April of last year and his roughly two minute-long segments are must-run for Sinclair affiliates.
In the clip, Epshteyn defends his work and says that while it is true that he has worked for Republican candidates, people should appreciate that someone involved with politics is giving analysis and commentary, rather than someone without any qualifications. However, Epshteyn frequently uses analysis and commentary interchangeably but in the news they are not. Analysts are typically not wedded to a particular ideology and analysis usually comes from current and/or former reporters based off their years of experience. Commentary, however, tends to push a narrative and spin developments in favor of a certain side. His job title also mixes up the two as he is an analyst doing commentator.
Epshteyn also attempts to go on the attack against members of the mainstream media and claim that his commentary is clearly labeled as such (the video is even titled “Clearly Marked Commentary.” The “same cannot be said for cable and broadcast news hosts who inject their opinions and bias into news coverage all the time without drawing any lines between them,” he says. However while Epshteyn’s background currently identifies his segment as commentary that has not always been the case. Epshteyn’s segments did not have a commentary identifier on them until October of last year.
Epshteyn has also conducted some interviews for Sinclair which further blurs the line between opinion and news.