Sinclair's Anti-Kerry Film So Annoys Brown He Takes 13 Minutes(CNN's Brown-Sinclair Interview)

MRC ^ | Tuesday October 12, 2004 | BrentBaker

[fight_truth_decay]

[CUT]

Brown set up his first October 11 NewsNight segment with a promise of fairness: "For those of you who believe that most media is hopelessly liberal, this will be the proof. You won't hear or believe that if the story in question were about an anti-Bush film, let's say 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' we would say exactly the same thing, do the segment exactly the same way, ask the same questions. We would. But we're not naive enough to believe that you would believe. So this segment is really for everyone else, for those who worry about fairness in media, who worry about power concentrated in a few hands. This is about a decision one company made to air a harsh political film in the days before the election on all of its dozens of TV stations, an indictment of John Kerry. A decision that says a fair amount about how the media rules have changed. A discussion on this in a moment. First, CNN's Howard Kurtz."

Kurtz's story, tracked down by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth, assumed Sinclair was in the wrong: "Closing days of a presidential campaign are a sensitive time when media organizations try not to do anything that would look like tilting toward one side or the other. But Sinclair Broadcasting doesn't worry, doesn't really seem to care if critics say the company is openly conservative. Sinclair has ordered its 62 television stations to preempt regular programming, days before the election, and air an aggressively anti-Kerry movie. It's called 'Stolen Honor,' by former Washington Times reporter and decorated Vietnam veteran Carlton Sherwood. The movie's argument is that when Lieutenant John Kerry testified about abuses in Vietnam after returning from combat, he was libeling all American soldiers there as, in Sherwood's words, 'deranged drug-addicted psychopaths,' 'baby killers,' and 'war criminals.' So why would Sinclair insist on carrying such a loaded, one-sided film? Could it have anything to do with the fact that Chief Executive David Smith is a strong supporter of President Bush? Or that its executives have donated nearly $70,000 on this campaign, 90 percent of it to Republicans? This is the same company that refused to carry an edition of Nightline last spring when Ted Koppel simply read, without comment, the names of all U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. Sinclair accused Koppel of pursuing an anti-war agenda. But the publicity was a boon for Nightline."

Ted Koppel: "Sinclair Broadcasting Group did more for our ratings that night than anything we could have done."

Kurtz: "As for 'Stolen Honor,' a Kerry campaign spokesman calls the Sinclair move a 'smear' and 'yellow journalism.' And Democratic Chairman Terry McAuliffe said today he would file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, charging Sinclair with making an in-kind contribution to the Bush campaign. It's hard to think of a precedent for all this. Imagine if, in the campaign's final week, CBS or CNN ran Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' to whip up the audience against Bush. Understandably, there would be an uproar. A Sinclair vice president told the Washington Post that the film tells a powerful story, that the broadcast networks are acting like Holocaust deniers about Kerry's past. But Sinclair seems in denial about how partisan this looks on the even of an election. And its local stations from Baltimore to Sacramento aren't being given a choice. Howard Kurtz, CNN, Washington."

Brown introduced his first guest: "Mark Hyman is the executive Howard Kurtz mentioned. He's the Vice President for Corporate Relations and an on-air commentator for Sinclair Broadcast Group, and he joins us from Washington. We're glad to have him with us. This stuff, these accusations, the statements by POWs and others have been out there in ads for weeks, if not months. What makes this news?"

Mark Hyman, Sinclair Broadcasting Group: "Well, there are a couple things. First of all, Aaron, unfortunately, Howard Kurtz' piece was incorrect. We haven't even finalized a format on this. We haven't made a decision how we're going to air, what portions of this documentary will be aired. All we've done is made a place holder. And there's been quite a bit of outcrying response to, complaining about content about a program that doesn't even exist yet. We haven't even developed a project yet."

Brown: "Sounds to me like in the last three days since this story was first reported by the L.A. Times you're backing away from it."

Hyman: "No, the L.A. Times actually got it wrong. They made some statements that flat-out were wrong. We have not decided on a format. We've invited one guest to appear: John Kerry. One person. That's all. We are working on a format. And it's dependent on how much John Kerry will participate in this process. If he spends two hours with us or two minutes, will dictate part of how this program will develop. But as far as newsworthy itself, and that was your question, is this deals with Vietnam POWs, including, in this case, two Medal of Honor winners who suffered horrific abuse and unspeakable tortures over many, many years. And they are replying to some claims made by John Kerry. They, more than anyone else in America, have earned the right to have their voices heard. And so far, the news gate keepers have denied them this opportunity. The notion of shuffling it off to political advertisements is exactly the sort of thing that broadcast television, at the network and local level, have received a lot of criticism for over the last decade or two, for ignoring legitimate news stories, and instead, hoping to sell advertising to people who want to push candidates or referendums or political questions."

Brown: "Your stations run the Swift Boat ads, don't they?"

Hyman: "That's immaterial to the process. As far as a news organization is concerned, if we look at a story and say, 'Well, here's a news story, but if we can make money off of it by selling it, we'll skip doing the news story itself,' that's what organizations like Alliance for the Better Campaigns has leveled at broadcasters saying they're not doing enough, they're not airing political debate, they're not discussing political stories, they're not talking about market officials."

Brown: "With due respect, in no sense, then, you would, you would ask us to believe that in no sense is the decision to air some, all, of this, political on the part of Sinclair?"

Hyman: "Why would you say that? Because there's a story, some element of the story is not favorable? The same example would be if there was a car bomb that took place in Iraq today, should I say, well, I can't report that because that would reflect poorly on the President? Absolutely not. If there's a car bomb, if there are bad unemployment figures, we're going to report those just like we report all news. This is newsworthy. The documentary was produced over a month ago. The broadcast networks all turned their nose up at it, according to the film maker, said we will not talk to you on this topic unless the John Kerry campaign signs off on it and tells us it's okay to talk to you. If that, in fact, is correct, that is what should be investigated. That's what should be looked at."

Brown: "Well, we could look at all of that, too. But you don't know that first-hand, correct?"

Hyman: "No, I don't."

Brown: "Okay."

Hyman: "All I know is that we have spent a few weeks checking out the stories of these POWs, verifying they, in fact, served, they were prisoners of war. They came back. They have a story they want to tell. I think they, more than anyone else who ever served in Vietnam, have a right to be heard. I think the fact that there are organizations who dismiss them and act as if they don't exist, certainly ought to take a better look at themselves and their standards and how they report news."

After an ad break, Brown spent five minutes with Hundt and Kalb fussing over the situation.

For a full list of Sinclair's 62 stations: http://www.sbgi.net/business/markets/all.shtml

[PBRSTREETGANG]

DUers have been e-mailing Sinclair's sponsors and one SYLVAN LEARNING CENTERS have pulled their ads.

Bad move by SYLVAN. Unfortunately they don't know that DUers "will never learn".

[EmilyGeiger]

I get Birmingham stations, so I am looking forward to seeing this documentary!

[TET1968]

The other night I made a mistake and stopped the channel selector on CNN right when the dentist was saying
" ...and so who is this self proclaimed "War President", George W. Bush?"

[fight_truth_decay]

Company: Sylvan Learning Center

Location: Lawton, OK

Phone: 580/351-9100

Business Type: (S) corporation franchise

[jazztrptman]

I hope the dumb*ss dems and MSM continue to scream loud about Sinclair Broadcasting showing this movie - it just draws more attention to it! My brother is a close friend of Carlton Sherwood. Both Carlton and my brother are REAL Vietnam heroes, as opposed to JFK's make-believe heroics. This movie is the absolute truth. I hope the critics take a close hard look - they will have a very difficult time challenging the facts in this movie!

[CyberAnt]

Hyman was just on Dayside .. and the audience applauded and applauded everything he said. Then the DNC shill came on and the audience was laughing and rolling their eyes over almost everything the DNC shill said.

I was listening to Rush, so I didn't really get to hear the conversations, but the audience reactions to each guy was very interesting. Hyman did not do any "backtracking" as some here on FR have claimed. Much to the contrary .. he was not apologetic and said he thought the movie was to show respect and honor, which was long overdue, to men who had given much for America.

[Chode]

after this POS admitted he was one of sodamn insanes BIGGEST PRESSTITUTES for the last decade and is STILL on the air... i have no way to describe my feelings for him that won't get me discharged from FR!!!

[Billthedrill]

You won't hear or believe that if the story in question were about an anti-Bush film, let's say 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' we would say exactly the same thing, do the segment exactly the same way, ask the same questions. We would.

Bovine ordure. They didn't.

[Clint N. Suhks]

Company: Sylvan Learning Center Location: Lawton, OK Phone: 580/351-9100 Business Type: (S) corporation franchise

Sylvan is owned by Educate Inc, symbol EEEE traded on the NASDAQ. Send correspondence to this link. Investor Relations.

[wynter]

EVERYONE needs to go to the Sinclair Broadcasting site http://www.sbgi.net/business/television.shtml , click on each market and go to each station and click on yes on the documentary. The Dems are already hitting all the stations that will carry the story and it's like debate night in the negative. Please at least make a dent and keep repeating this throughout the night for those who don't get this message right now. I watched Linda Vestor also and he said they are trying all kinds of things to get them off the air and he was willing to lose his stations for doing the right thing than not to do it at all. Get the word out. I'm writing my whole email list. One other thing.. on the main page www.sbgi.net click on the comment email and give them some support letters.

[fight_truth_decay]

Sylvan Learning Center Franchise

SCORE’S Work with Franchise Learning Center Owners is a Lesson in Start-up Success

"More than four years after contacting SCORE, the Lawton Sylvan Learning Center serves approximately 150 students each month with after-school help reading and math, as well as other academic needs. In terms of revenue, the Johnsons’ franchise ranks among the leading 35 percent of Sylvan’s more than 900 Learning Centers in North America."

http://www.score.org/success_sylvan.html

Now how is this related you ask?

"The Johnson’s still call on SCORE occasionally when a question arises about management or finances." (quotes Johnson)

SCORE works with a long list of Veterans groups... http://www.score.org/resources_veteran.html such as Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA).

Howard and Jo Jean Johnson Location: Lawton, OK
Formed: 1998
Phone: 580/351-9100

or SCORE Association!! 1-800/634-0245

Your Sylvan Advantage™ Call 1-888-EDUCATE

[The Citizen Soldier]

My e-mail to Sinclair Broadcasting.

Subject: Thank You from a Grateful Viet Nam Veteran

Dear Sir/Madam:

As a Viet Nam veteran, I want to thank you for your decision to show the documentary, "Stolen Honor."

I was discharged in 1971, having served honorably for 3-1/2 years, including three tours to Viet Nam. When I was discharged there was no particular honor afforded me or my "band of brothers." Quite the opposite, because the anti-war sentiment had become so strong, I quickly moved to civilian life with little comment of my service.

For the following thirty-one years, like so many others, I have suppressed my feelings about being betrayed by so many that I was sent to defend. Only in the past six months, primarily as a result of the efforts of the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," have I begun to feel a level of pride for my service of three decades ago. My children have even remarked that this is the first time they have heard me openly speak about my tours of duty.

It was self-serving individuals like John Kerry through their anti-war activities that buoyed and emboldened the enemy. All the while, our POW's were continually confronted with the anti-war rhetoric being spewed by Mr. Kerry and his cronies (many of whom have such been exposed as frauds, having never served in Viet Nam). For failing to agree with Mr. Kerry's comments, many of these prisoners were tortured and abused. Some died. The least we can do for the survivors is let them tell their story. Reasonable Americans will be able to ascertain whether they are being honest.

While I have difficulty forgiving Jane Fonda for her comments and her actions, she, at least, offered an apology some years later. John Kerry has never done so, fearing some political consequence I suppose.

I'm more than a little surprised that there is no similar outrage by those associated with the Kerry presidential campaign against moveon.org, George Soros, Michael Moore, or a last minute pay-for-view showing of his flawed and blatantly anti-Bush, "Fahrenheit 911."

We are constantly reminded that each of us has the civil duty to be informed and to make up our own minds. Yet, I now see an almost hysterical push to prevent the showing of "Stolen Honor." I am hoping and praying that Sinclair Broadcasting will not yield to this pressure, but will indeed air the documentary and let the viewing audience make their own decision as to it's validity.

Speaking as one grateful Viet Nam veteran, I want to applaud and thank you for your courage.

Sincerely,

[fight_truth_decay]

UPDATE: SCORE has no links to Sylvan, they say and Sylvans advertising. They do support the Veterans however in business related issues.

Scratch SCORE!! from all calls..will not lead anywhere constructive.

[need_a_screen_name]

BTTT!

[Prost1]

Ahhhaaaaahahhhaaa, 1 Sylvan Learning Center.

If they don't advertise, no will will remember them!

[skeeter]

They liked it when they could tell us how to think.

"They" can KMA.

This is great. I've been waiting alot of years for someone to shove these sanctimonious hypocrits noses in it for awhile.

[cp124]

Mark Hyman has excellant editiorials on our Sinclair channel.

[beelzepug]

"Aaron Brown is a well known by most, I would think, commentator on CNN."

Brown was a second-rate local newsreader for several years in the Seattle area before moving up in the world. He is a splendid example of the Peter Principle.