Mark E. Hyman (born January 6, 1958) is the Vice President for Corporate Relations for Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest chain of local television stations in the United States. Hyman became a visible presence during local news broadcasts over Sinclair's stations, many of which aired The Point from late 2001 through November 2006. The Point was a controversial daily televised commentary by Hyman. In December 2010 Hyman's commentaries returned to select Sinclair-owned stations under the title "Behind the Headlines with Mark Hyman." [1]
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Hyman is a 1981 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and was a Captain in the United States Navy Reserve. He currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and four children.
Beginning in 2001, he created conservative one-minute editorial segments called, The Point that were broadcast on many of the group's 62 stations, during local news programs. Sinclair Broadcast Group's own description of the program was as follows:
The Point is a one-minute daily commentary that is intended to stimulate public discourse. The Point encourages viewer feedback, and every Saturday we air select viewer comments, both positive and negative. In an age of homogenized, bland, politically correct news, we are proud to deliver news and commentary that stimulates critical thinking and encourages viewers to get involved.[2]
The program became known for its controversial political commentary.[3] It was frequently criticized as one-sided propaganda.
On November 2, 2006, after more than five years and 2,000 daily commentaries, Hyman announced that he planned to drop his daily commentary at the end of the month, citing a desire to spend more time with his four children.[1] The final "The Point" commentary aired on November 30.
Controversy over Hyman began after the September 11 attacks, when he attacked some journalists and news agencies - such as National Public Radio, the New York Times, and CNN - as "aiding and abetting the enemy" when they reported on civilians accidentally killed during the U.S. attack on Afghanistan.
He later used the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" to describe the French in one of his editorials. Other notable slurs include calling war protesters "whack-jobs" and "communists."
In late 2004, he took heavy criticism for the firing of Jon Lieberman, Sinclair's Washington bureau chief and reporter, following the latter's public criticism of Sinclair's announced plan to air the controversial anti-Kerry film Stolen Honor as a news program in prime time on all of its stations.
Hyman called Lieberman a "disgruntled employee" and said the firing was because Lieberman had "[spoken] to the press about company business." Lieberman pointed to the fact that Sinclair had previously been pleased enough with him as an employee to promote him, and attributed his firing to his criticism of Sinclair's Stolen Honor plan, a plan he claims originated with Hyman.
On August 30, Hyman claimed that Social Security discriminates against minorities. Politically progressive media watchdog group Media Matters for America disputed this claim by saying that some minorities have longer life expectancies after retirement than whites[2], though the vast majority of minorities in the United States do in fact have shorter life expectancy than their Caucasian counterparts.
He also claimed spouses who worked for less than 10 years because they "gave up [their] career in order to raise a family... get diddly-squat"[3]. Media Matters disputed this as well, saying that married Social Security recipients are eligible for all the benefits that they have earned for themselves, and, in addition, if those benefits are less than half of what their spouse receives, they also receive spousal benefits that increase their overall benefits to an amount equal to half their partner's benefit, plus survivor benefits.[4]
Hyman continues to offer his conservative opinions in print and online for American Spectator magazine.[4] Hyman's editorials returned to select Sinclair-owned stations in a dozen TV markets under the title "Behind the Headlines with Mark Hyman" in December 2010. [5]