CBS and ABC Decry TV Chain for Running Anti-Kerry Documentary (Stolen Honor..Kerry Bloggers Wild!)

MRC ^ | 1:15pm EDT, Monday October 11, 2004 | BrentBaker

[fight_truth_decay]

The chutzpah of CBS and ABC. On Sunday night, both decried how the Sinclair Broadcast Group has told its owned and operated televisions stations to run an anti-Kerry documentary, Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal. On the CBS Evening News, reporter Kelly Cobiella noted how "Sinclair has given the lion's share of its political contributions to Republican candidates. This year, the company's CEO wrote out the largest personal check allowed by law to President Bush's re-election campaign." ABC anchor Terry Moran stressed how "Democrats decry this move as a political smear and yellow journalism" before Geoff Morrell relayed how "Sinclair's owners have donated $58,000 to re-elect President Bush."

The stories failed to inform viewers how ABC and CBS have given free air time to the anti-Bush screed from Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 911, or how the corporate chieftains at both networks are Democrats and/or large donors to Democrats, including the Kerry presidential campaign. To say nothing of CBS using forged documents for a prime time hit piece aimed at destroying President Bush's credibility.

On June 27, before a re-run of a laudatory profile of Michael Moore, CBS's 60 Minutes promoted Fahrenheit 9/11 by airing a nearly minute-long excerpt of one of its most disparaging sequences about President Bush, showing him sitting in the classroom for seven minutes on September 11, 2001.

A few days earlier, ABC's Good Morning America spent about seven minutes showcasing Fahrenheit 9/11's highlights of how after President Bush was informed a second plane had hit the World Trade Center, he stayed in front of elementary school kids for another seven minutes. "Was valuable time wasted?" asked Charlie Gibson at the top of the June 22 show. Diane Sawyer imparted great meaning to the time passage: "It was seven minutes in the life of a President, seven minutes in the history of the nation, it's seven minutes a lot of people are using as a kind of Rorschach test."

On the money and party affiliation side for Disney, owner of ABC, and Viacom, owner of CBS: Disney CEO Michael Eisner is a long-time generous donor to Democratic candidates and in March former Senator George Mitchell, the very partisan Senate Majority Leader when Democrats held the body in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was elected Chairman of the Board of the Walt Disney Company. For more about Mitchell's ascension: http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2004/cyb20040304.asp#6

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ABC's Geoff Morrell warned that through Sinclair the documentary "could be seen by nearly a quarter of all U.S. households." CBS anchor Mika Brzezinski referred to Sinclair as "the nation's largest television group owners." Cobiella described Sinclair as "a company with the power to reach a quarter of American TV viewers. Sinclair owns 62 local television stations across the country, including affiliates of Fox, ABC, WB, UPN and three CBS stations, in a number of states still up for grabs in the presidential race."

In fact, as Cobiella alluded to, Sinclair is mainly made up of little-watched WB and UPN affiliates, as well as some stations so small they don't even have any network affiliation, and their few affiliations with ABC and CBS are limited to a few small markets. Their largest CBS affiliate is in Sacramento, the 19th largest market, and their largest ABC affiliate, on channel 30, is in an even smaller market, St. Louis. For a list of Sinclair's owned or operated stations (they manage many stations owned by others): http://www.sbgi.net/business/markets/all.shtml

Nonetheless, World News Tonight anchor Terry Moran treated Sinclair's programming as big news, announcing on the October 10 World News Tonight/Sunday: "A major broadcasting company, with access to more than 60 television stations, is stirring controversy this weekend with its plan to pre-empt regular programming in order to show a film attacking John Kerry. Democrats decry this move as a political smear and yellow journalism."

CBS Evening News anchor Mika Brzezinski intoned Sunday night:

"In a move likely to heat up discussion of the intersection of media and politics one of the nation's largest television group owners will announce shortly it's urging its stations to air a controversial film about the Democratic candidate for President."

Kelly Cobiella began: "It's called 'Stolen Honor,' a 42-minute film that asserts John Kerry's Vietnam war protests actually prolonged the war. Fellow Vietnam veteran and longtime Kerry critic Carlton Sherwood produced it, and claims Pennsylvania war veterans paid for it."

Man in movie: "It's about a treachery."

Cobiella: "The movie, available as an Internet pay-per-view, has found a broadcast distributor in Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group, a company with the power to reach a quarter of American TV viewers. Sinclair owns 62 local television stations across the country, including affiliates of Fox, ABC, WB, UPN and three CBS stations, in a number of states still up for grabs in the presidential race. A Sinclair executive tells CBS News the company wants its stations to air the film the third week of October as a news program, and says it has offered Senator Kerry a chance to answer the claims on air. The Kerry camp is skeptical."

Chad Clanton, Kerry campaign: "I think it's hard to take any offer seriously from any group that's going this far over the line."

Cobiella: "In the past eight years, Sinclair has given the lion's share of its political contributions to Republican candidates. This year, the company's CEO wrote out the largest personal check allowed by law to President Bush's re-election campaign. In a January interview with Television Week, Sinclair President and CEO David Smith said, 'Our news media has intentionally dumbed down the news, and we all know why they do: Because they have a political agenda.' The company made headlines in April for pre-empting a Nightline program on its ABC affiliates, accusing host Ted Koppel of trying to make a political statement by reading the names of soldiers killed in Iraq."

Danny Schechter, Mediachannel.org: "The public interest is being lost to the corporate interest."

Cobiella: "While media critic Danny Schechter says airing the anti-Kerry film so close to an election could be viewed as inappropriate, it does not break federal broadcast rules."

Schechter: "Others will follow if it's successful. The problem is, the truth could be a casualty."

Cobiella concluded: "It's the latest salvo in a campaign where media has become the weapon of choice."

The Los Angeles Times on Saturday first reported Sinclair's programming decision. The Baltimore Sun's version of that story: http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-te.campaign09oct0 9,1,1283456.story?coll=bal-artslife-tv

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Full story http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2004/cyb20041011.asp

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

To CBS and ABC;

Imagine the nerve of SBG, showing something the people want to see. What a concept.

[mountaineer]

Sinclair's news website.

[AZamericonnie]

The MSM has touted every leftist who has written a book this year from Clarke to Kelly. NO MSM has given the Swifties fair & equal time. They can run with forgeries but discount the testimony of 200 veterans. I could spit nails.

[fight_truth_decay]

An Open Plea to Michael Moore


By Anthony Wade

October 10, 2004

Mr. Moore,

I know that you have been quite active in the political process this year and share the same goals most Americans have, which is to rid this country of the presidency of George W. Bush. You have contributed much to the process with your stunningly honest Fahrenheit 911 and how it exposed the president. That film also made you a lot of money, a true win-win.

I assume you saw the news today that the Sinclair Broadcast Group has ordered its affiliates across the country to air a partisan anti-Kerry attack documentary on the eve of the election this year. The tripe, entitled “Stolen Honor” is designed for one purpose only, to sway a national election at a point where honest rebuttal will be impossible before people go to cast their votes. This abhorrent strategy will see this film premiered in 62 television markets around the country including fourteen stations in such swing states as Ohio , Florida , Pennsylvania and Wisconsin . Sinclair is ordering its stations to pre-empt local programming in favor of the report.

Fahrenheit 911 has been seen by a far larger audience than anyone could have rightly expected. When it was unjustly attacked by the likes of Christopher Hitchens and David Kopel, I responded, debunking them point by point. I had read some months ago that you were in negotiations to try and have Fahrenheit 911 available to be seen on network TV before the election. You expressed though that you did not think it could get done.

Based on the decision by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which has donated 98% of their political contributions to republicans, a response is necessary. This is the same slimy group that pulled the plug on the Nightline broadcast of the dead in Iraq because it would hurt Bush. They specialize in media “duopolies” which concentrate media ownership in this society. It is this concentration that has led to the near propaganda that we see daily and the almost banning of your film because Disney supported Bush. Duopolies also stand to be outlawed under a Kerry presidency.

The answer must be that there are still people willing to put the needs of the republic over their own material needs. I do not pretend to know how you can overcome the obstacles to airing your film in prime time, on national TV, I only know that you need to figure out how to make it happen. It will send a message to the powerful who think they can manipulate the masses and go unchallenged. It will send a message to the centralized media that we are coming to take our country back. I pray you can figure out how to make this happen so the playing field is leveled and the American people will not be snookered again.

Thanks.

Anthony Wade

Anthony Wade is co-administrator of www.ibtp.org, a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of President George W. Bush and seeking his removal from office. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.

Anthony Wade’s Archive: http://www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm

Email Anthony: takebacktheus@yahoo.com
http://www.opednews.com/wade_101004_moore_letter.htm

[Question Liberal Authority]

I'm sure CBS is just mad because they wanted to run an hour-long puff piece promoting Stolen Honor first.

[MileHi]

If I take the " /all.shtml " off the end it works. No stations around here. Might be in my cable pakage (WB?)

[BillyCrockett]

The more Dems whine about this being played (they don't seem to say much about F911 being played the night before the election) the more attention it will get from undecideds and more will watch it. Perfect!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

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[weegee]

Media Schadenfreude and Media Shenanigans PING

[Gator113]

To be fair, the Sinclair Broadcast Group should promise cBS that they will not give this documentary any more airtime that cBS used in their attempts to smear the President with lies and forged documents.

Oh, and then there remains that phony draft thing too!!

[goldstategop]

There is a silver lining in ABC & C-BS slam of Sinclair Broadcasting. They just informed the public of another broadcast company they can flock to enmasse. Freepers, friends and conservatives rejoice: our media choice is no longer limited to FOX. Now there's SINCLAIR!!! Cheers!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

John Kerry's Discharge - He won't sign Form 180 - What is he hiding?

http://acuf.org/issues/issue21/040929pol.asp

What a young man did more than 30 years ago should not be a primary criteria in determining his qualifications to be President of the United States. George Bush has had almost 4 years now as Commander and Chief of the World"s largest military force and he should be judged on how well he has done. Yet John Kerry and the Democratic left won"t give it up. On almost a daily basis he says I served this country honorably as a young man in Vietnam (4 months/12 days) and I will serve this country honorably as Commander and Chief. Then the Left yells that George Bush got preferential treatment in getting into the National Guard and even failed to complete his guard obligations; even forging documents to prove their point.

The facts are that George Bush served honorably in the National Guard obtaining service points far in excess of the 50 annual service points required to meet his obligation. Records show that in 1968/69 he accumulated 253 points, 340 in 1969/70, 137 in 1970/71, 112 in 1971/72, 56 in 1972/73 and 56 in 1973/74. Points far in excess of the service agreed to and that required to meets his obligation and be Honorably Discharged. George Bush has never made his National Guard service a qualification to lead this country, nor has he ever questioned the service of John Kerry.

While the Left and the mainstream media have never questioned the Vietnam era service of John Kerry, they seem to feel that the record of George Bush 30 years ago should be of concern to voters in November. But what about John Kerry's record? We are told that he was a decorated veteran. We are also told that he was deeply involved in anti-war activities on his return from Vietnam in violation of his oath as an officer in the US Navy. By his own account of his actions and protests, he violated the UCMJ, the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Code while serving as a Navy officer. Further he met, on two occasions, with North Vietnamese negotiators in 1970 and 1971, while a Reserve Officer, willingly placing himself in violation of Article three, Section three of the U.S. Constitution, which defines treason as "giving aid and comfort" to the enemy in time of warfare.

From here the record of John Kerry becomes unclear and the mainstream press won't demand that John Kerry sign a Department of Defense (DOD) form 180 that would release all of his military records. Records released by his campaign are confusing. There are indications that he was Honorably Discharged on Jan. 3, 1970, Feb 16, 1978, July 13, 1978 and even lately Mar. 12, 2001. Why the confusion on a relatively simple service event. Could it be that John Kerry received a less than honorable discharge in the early 70"s because of his anti-war activities? And then was pardoned for those activities when then President Jimmy Carter on January 21, 1978 ( Proclamation 4483) granted a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all persons who may have committed any offense between August 4, 1964 and March 28, 1973 in violation of the Military Selective Service Act or any rule or regulation promulgated there under.

Did John Kerry request that his service be granted an Honorable Discharge and it was finally granted in 1978? Only a complete release of his military records will show what actually happened during this period. And, to date John Kerry has refused to sign the necessary DOD form 180 which would allow for this release. If the Democratic Party, the media, and the Bush critics are going to demand, as they do on almost a daily basis, that George Bush release all of his records, should they not do the same for John Kerry?

Michael Ashbury is a noted researcher and author, and the author of ''Who is the REAL John Kerry?'' (Booksurge.com 2004). His website is at http://www.whoistherealjohnkerry.com

[M. Peach]

This is exactly why I can't stand liberals - the hypocrisy and double standard they can't seem to even see or acknowledge.

[Graybeard58]

The requested URL /business/markets/all.shtml was not found on this server.

Gotta better link?

[goldstategop]

SBG is the next FOX.

[Josh in PA]

Anybody got a list of stations that Sinclair owns?

[mountaineer]

Click on my link at #22 - there's a drop-down menu of their markets.

[weegee]

FOX News' head gave to the Kerry Campaign. So much for the lie that they are a "right wing" news service.

[My2Cents]

Once this election is over, I'm going to be looking into what I can do, as a grassroots activist, to help expose and bring down the mainstream news media. They're clearly on the defensive now, and we need to pursue how to completely discredit them before the next presidential election.

[My2Cents]

Roger Ailes?