Sinclair media owns most local TV stations in the US and uses them to shape public discourse in less-than-ethical ways. I think when local news has gotten as consolidated as it is, it ought to have some kind of obligation to the public, and shouldn't be able to hide behind "it's a private company" to justify bad behavior.
Yes, this weather-report manipulation is the tip of the iceberg.
The station managers get frequent directives from corporate management to hype more-or-less fake stories, and suppress other (real) stories, largely for political purposes.
Before the FCC rescinded its balanced-reporting rules this sort of foolishness was contained, at the cost of sometimes requiring airing fringe lunacy. Now fringe lunacy is often the whole story.
John Oliver did an informative bit on Sinclair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtNyOzGogc