Sinclair Coverage Map
Posted on 10/11/2004 11:01:59 AM PDT by 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
It's really surprising to me that ABC would watch CBS go over the cliff, and then proceed to do the same thing.
It is on Sinclair's website, though not terribly easy to find. If you are in the Pittsburgh area, they own Channels 22 and 53.
Note the link in the article that lists Sinclair's markets.
Ever hear of it? Other than for yourselves, I mean?
How owuld the DUers react if this ban on free expression by private broadcasters applied to the owners of MoveOn.org?
SINCLAIR is the conservative alternative to the major networks. They never give to Democrats and unlike the mainstream media, they don't hide the political identity behind protestation of "professional ethics" and "journalistic objectivity." SBG does what the rest of the media has failed to do and that is to bring up the OTHER side of the story. This documentary wouldn't even be broadcast if it weren't for them. The media's real complaint is they've lost their monopoly to decide what is and what isn't news. How dare an upstart company like SBG to infringe on THEIR perogatives! (laughing)
And WHERE do the contributions of the leaders of abc, cbs,nbc, cnn, viacom, etc go? to the DEMONCRATS of course.
The "elitist media" HAD to report on the rathergate fisaco because SO MANY knew about it via the internet. Yet, their complains were about the FORGED documents, NOT the fact that danny boy was attempting to CONTROL the outcome of the election via a so-called NEWS story.
We need to FLOOD abc, cbs, nbc, cnn with emails DENOUCING their BIASED attitude onthe Sinclair situation.
nbc has no "offical link" for their news dept.
Try: webmaster@nbc.com
Subj: Forward to nbc news
abc: NETAUDR@abc.com
cbs: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/home/main100.shtml
at the bottom of the page, Contact Us will bring up a form
cnn: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form1.html?18
The following is what I am sending to them all.
You find it ACCEPTABLE for cbs to attempt to CONTROL the outcome of the election with KNOWN FRAUDULENT stories, yet you compain about Sinclair requiring stations HE OWNS to run a particular movie?
You had NO PROBLEM with cbs running a "documentary" about the Reagans that was BOGUS and INTENDED to make them look silly and ridiculous but you COMPLAIN when Sinclair wants to run a FACTUAL film about a BACKSTABBING COWARD who used the LIVES of AMERICAN soldiers for HIS political gain?
You members of the "elitist media" havent learned yet, but EVENTUALLY you will. You will become HONEST or you will become IRRELEVANT.
Good point. Can you post a list of their stations so we can circulate it on the internet and encourage people to support them?
When you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, you have two options: 1. Drop them and deny you took them, or 2. Keep the cookies, scream that you're entitled to them, and fight to keep them. In the bias war, the MSM has chosen the latter.
Rather than deny they're biased and run a few token stories to support the contrary, it looks as though the MSM is going to pick sides and back what it hopes will be the winner. No one can, with a straight face, argue otherwise.
Count me in!
I have been thinking that we need to circulate the idea that everyone should cancel their subscriptions to the actual newspapers. When I receive calls soliciting a subscription to the L.A. Times, I tell the caller that I don't make contributions to the Democratic Party. That always shuts them up real quick. As long as people subscribe, and buy the products advertised, they will continue to be able to spew the liberal biased so-called "news"
Dems have already filed a complaint with the FEC.
What a bunch of whiny babies!
Send an e-mail to Sinclair congratulating them on their decision!
comments@sbgi.net
Let them know they have support! I did!
"The Kerry-Edwards plan for America is exactly what is needed to jumpstart businesses and get America working again. It will lower healthcare costs and cut taxes on corporations and small businesses to strengthen our economy today and invest in education, science and innovation to help us stay competitive in the economy of tomorrow." -- Peter Chernin, President and COO, News Corp. [parent company of FOX News
President and CEO of Fox is big Dem donor
Peter Chernin, President and CEO of Fox Studios, listed with a Beverly Hills address is recorded on Fundrace.org as giving Kerry $2000. His wife another 2000. But Peter Chernin listed at another address, this one in Santa Monica, whose occupation is "News Corporation President" is a $25,000 donor to the DNC. Are there two Peter Chernins who are News Presidents, or is the head of Fox News a giant DNC contributor?(later reply): VERY old news on Chernin.
I have been thinking that we need to circulate the idea that everyone should cancel their subscriptions to the actual newspapers. When I receive calls soliciting a subscription to the L.A. Times, I tell the caller that I don't make contributions to the Democratic Party. That always shuts them up real quick. As long as people subscribe, and buy the products advertised, they will continue to be able to spew the liberal biased so-called "news"
They are crying about this because they cant stand that people are not watching CBS and ABS news anymore..they can't STAND that they cant control people.
Sorry ABC and SeeBS.. you are obsolete.
CBS and ABC want to be the the PRAVDA and TASS of the future Soviet Socialist Republics of Amerika.
http://www.sbgi.net/business/television.shtml
worked ok for me just tried again as I always test them before I post..
"Physician, heal thyself."
Apt analogy because they are getting a taste of their own medicine. Heh-Heh-Heh.
You got another volunteer here..add me to your list.
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