Technical issues cause Sinclair mandated flag disappear for brief period

By MixDex Article may include affiliate links

WBFF, the Sinclair owned Fox affiliate in Baltimore, had the company mandated American flag imagery disappear from its news graphics briefly, reports FTVLive.

• Back in November 2017, reports surfaced that Sinclair was mandating that all of its stations add an American flag to the right side of the lower third graphics nearly all of its stations use during newscasts.
• When WBFF debuted its new set and graphics Monday, Sept, 10, 2018, viewers were quick to notice the station’s new lower third graphics were missing the American flag.

• However, it turns out the move wasn’t done on purpose, FTV Live reports that technical limitations on debut day meant the station couldn’t insert its bug or ticker and, it turns out, the flag motif had been relocated as a background element behind the station’s logo bug.
• Notably, the flag returned just in time for the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
• The bug, which is a blue shade and is just below the current time and temp, features a much less prominent American flag than the station used before, as shown in the sample taken from another Sinclair station below.