Democrats Oppose Sinclair's Plan to Air Anti-Kerry Film

WASHINGTON – The Democratic Party and 18 senators are objecting to a broadcasting company's plan to air on 62 TV stations a critical documentary about John Kerry's anti-war activities after he returned home from Vietnam three decades ago.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has asked its television stations, many of them in competitive states in the presidential election, to pre-empt regular programming to run the documentary as part of an hourlong program two weeks before the Nov. 2 election.

Based near Baltimore, the company owns or manages affiliates of major broadcast networks in several states, including Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Mark Hyman, a vice president of corporate relations for Sinclair who also is a conservative commentator for the company, said Monday the show would contain some or all of the 42-minute film as well as a panel discussion of some sort. He said final details had not been worked out.

The documentary, called "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," chronicles Kerry's 1971 testimony before Congress and links him to activist and actress Jane Fonda. It includes interviews with Vietnam prisoners of war and their wives who claim that Kerry's testimony, filled with "lurid fantasies of butchery in Vietnam" on the part of U.S. troops, demeaned them and led their captors to hold them longer.

The Democratic National Committee planned to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday contending that Sinclair's airing of the film should be considered an illegal in-kind contribution to President Bush's campaign. Also, 18 Democrat senators sent a letter to the Federal Communication Commission asking that it investigate whether Sinclair's plan was an improper use of public airwaves.

However, Sinclair's Hyman said: "The documentary is just a part of a special news event that we're putting together. We've invited one person to be a guest. That's Senator John Kerry." The company posted a note on its Web site Monday afternoon urging people to call Kerry's headquarters to urge his participation.

Chad Clanton, a Kerry campaign spokesman, said, "Everything is on the table, but it's hard to take an offer seriously from a group with such a fierce partisan agenda, a group that's clearly not interested in the truth."

DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe said the company was acting as a mouthpiece for the Republican Party rather than a legitimate news outlet.

"In this election cycle, they have put their money where their right-wing mouths are," he said. "Sinclair's owners aren't interested in news. They're interested in pro-Bush propaganda."

Campaign finance records show that the company's executives have donated thousands of dollars to Bush's campaign. In April, the company was in the news for refusing to run a "Nightline" show in which hundreds of names of American troops killed in Iraq were read by ABC anchor Ted Koppel.

"Would they suggest that our reporting a car bomb in Iraq is an in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign? Would they suggest that our reporting on job losses is an in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign?" he said. "It's the news. It is what it is. We're reporting the news."

Carlton Sherwood, a Vietnam veteran and former journalist who made the film, said Monday that he felt the media had not explored the period of Kerry's life after he returned from Vietnam, including when he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee alleging atrocities in Vietnam.

"For 33 years, we've been saying that how Kerry portrayed us was utterly false. It was purgatory of the worst kind. It was slander," Sherwood said. "But no one wanted to talk about it. Everybody ran for cover."

Sherwood, based in Harrisburg, Pa., said the film took six weeks to make, and Sinclair contacted him last month upon the film's completion. He said he was told last week of the company's plans to run it, and that the company was not compensating him for the film.

I just threw this up in another thread, so apologies to those who see it again. A letter to SBGI from "moi"

To whom it may concern,

Ladies and Gentlemen of Sinclair Broadcast group do not allow the pressures of anti-American, anti-freedom, and anti-equal-rights groups to cloud your judgement on the topic of whether to broadcast "Stolen Honor". In an effort to keep the mainstream media a fair and balanced outlet for Americans to seek and find whatever truth they may, you must not halt your broadcasting plans. As I`m sure you are aware, Michael Moore has been allowed to parade across the country in an "Anybody but Bush" campaign. His fictionalized view of the events following the 9/11 attacks have been and are being proven as falsehoods, exaggerations and lies, is scheduled to appear on our airwaves, yet no one from the mainstream media complains. CBS news has been in all out attack mode against our President for weeks propogating fictitious stories and falsified government documents to unfairly discredit our President. ABC news editors demand their reporters hold the President to "Higher standards" than his opponent. ABC news also hides the fact that they themselves did a news story in 1999 detailing the connection between Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Swiftboat Veterans for Truth has been speaking out against a candidate they feel is unqualified to be our commander in chief, yet the candidate refuses to confront their accusations. If their claims are lies why has he not filed suit against them? He and his surrogates instead attack the group of veterans, they attack the television stations that run the Veterans` ads, they attack the book`s publisher. What is it that they fear, the truth? If the program is indeed untrue, then those affected by the untruths have the right to prove they are just that, much like the President was forced to by releasing his records. Something John F. Kerry has NOT done. Why? A simple form needs to be filed. The Senator has time to go windsurfing, campaign in Houses of worship, which is ILLEGAL, call the President a liar, but no time to fill out a form? Now your Company`s right to broadcast a simple documentary on television stations owned by your company is being challenged.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The democratic party, much to the dislike of growing numbers, is an arm of the government and therefore as stated above from the Constitution, has no right to abridge your right to broadcast. Nor should your company succumb to pressures from external forces. Much like we Americans will do on November 2, stand up for YOUR beliefs.

Thank You for your time,
everyone should feel free to e-mail them your opinions.

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