Posted on 10/19/2004 6:37:51 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
BALTIMORE Oct. 19, 2004 — A documentary critical of John Kerry's Vietnam-era anti-war activities will be shown only in part during a program examining the use of such documentaries to influence elections, Sinclair Broadcast said Tuesday.
The company's announcement came hours after shareholders challenged Sinclair's plans to air the program, saying the controversial broadcast may hurt their investment.
"A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media," will examine the "role of the media in filtering the information contained in these documentaries, allegations of media bias by media organizations that ignore or filter legitimate news and the attempts by candidates and other organizations to influence media coverage," the company said in a statement. It will air Friday on 40 of the company's stations.
Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the owner of 62 television stations, has been criticized for ordering the stations to pre-empt regular programming to air the show. The company, which has previously declined comment on the issue, said reports that the documentary would be aired in its entirety were "inaccurate."
The Democratic National Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, arguing that the broadcast should be considered an illegal in-kind contribution to the Bush campaign.
Sinclair fired its Washington bureau chief Monday after he publicly criticized the company's plans.
"We have not ceded, and will not in the future cede, control of our news reporting to any outside organization or political group," said Joe DeFeo, Sinclair's vice president of news.
Groups have also called for advertisers to boycott Sinclair, whose stations reach a quarter of U.S. households, many in key swing states for the upcoming presidential election.
The news special will discuss allegations surrounding Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activities raised in the documentary, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," but the entire 42-minute documentary will not air, Sinclair said.
Sinclair said executives met recently with senior Kerry campaign officials but the campaign has declined to participate in the program.
"The experience of preparing to air this news special has been trying for many of those involved," CEO David Smith said. "The company and many of its executives have endured personal attacks of the vilest nature, as well as calls on our advertisers and our viewers to boycott our stations and on our shareholders to sell their stock."
Meanwhile, a lawyer said he planned to sue on behalf of shareholders, alleging insider trading by top executives as well as damage from the decision to air the film. Media Matters, a media advocacy group, announced it was underwriting the costs of a shareholder action demanding equal time for opposing views.
Eighteen senators, all Democrats, wrote last week to the Federal Communications Commission to ask it to investigate Sinclair's plans. The agency declined to intervene.
New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi, also a Democrat, sent a letter expressing concern to Sinclair on behalf of the state's pension fund, which owns shares in the broadcasting company.
Sinclair shares dropped more than 3 percent Tuesday, falling 23 cents to $6.26 a share on the NASDAQ market. Sinclair stock dropped about 8 percent on Monday, and is down from a high of more than $15 a share in January.
Two groups offered programs Tuesday to Sinclair to air in response to its news special. California philanthropist Deborah Rappaport and her husband offered to pay for an hour of air time on Sinclair stations to air the documentary "Going Upriver," a positive portrayal of Kerry's service in Vietnam, before the Nov. 2 election day.
Mother Jones Magazine offered Sinclair a half-hour video of four prominent Republicans including John Dean and Pete Peterson condemning the Bush administration.
On the Net:
Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.:
Anyone notice that the media outlets the dems hate most are the ones that are most responsive to their shareholders?
Yikes, Mother Jones involved in this ... that is a very liberal magazine. I learned that when I posted something from that on FR long ago.
If this is done right, as a program on the news media's suppression of the truth about Kerry's Vietnam record, it could be even more effective than just showing the film.
I'm not saying that's what they plan to do. But it's not clear whether this is a backing off or just a shift of plans.
The roll the lying and bigoted news media have played in blocking out the truth is at least as important as the roll kerry played in betraying his country over Vietnam.
We'll see when they air it.
Keith, your vantage point is well taken. Should Sinclair not answer to their shareholders?
I'm amazed at the sort of threats leveled over and over at anyone who is the slightest bit critical, and the way that the Kerry campaign threatens legal action against any critic.
I think that the most chilling thing that I've heard during this campaign is the "you had better hope that we don't win" tossed out at Sinclair. It was done so off-handedly. I'm not hoping... I'm praying!
Mark
BWAHAHAHAHAHA.
donkey doots.
"We'll see when they air it."
To hell with that!! I bought it outright! I want to see the whole thing myself and then show it to all of the undecided voters I know.
Let's see the media wing of the demonrat~ party stop ME from showing this documentary!!
Granted, it's only a few people and not millions, but it's all I can do.
From the Sinclair website
Sinclair to Air "A POW Story"
BALTIMORE (October 19, 2004) - Sinclair Broadcast Group (Nasdaq: SBGI)
announced today that on Friday, October 22, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m.
central time) certain television stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast
Group, Inc. will air a special one-hour news program, entitled A POW Story:
Politics, Pressure and the Media. In order to minimize the interruption of
normally scheduled programming in those markets where Sinclair owns and/or
programs more than one television station, the news special will be
broadcast on only one of those stations. A complete list of stations which
will be airing the program and the times of such broadcasts is attached.
The news special will focus in part on the use of documentaries and
other media to influence voting, which emerged during the 2004 political
campaigns, as well as on the content of certain of these documentaries.
The program will also examine the role of the media in filtering the
information contained in these documentaries, allegations of media bias by
media organizations that ignore or filter legitimate news and the attempts
by candidates and other organizations to influence media coverage.
Contrary to numerous inaccurate political and press accounts, the
Sinclair stations will not be airing the documentary "Stolen Honor" in its
entirety. At no time did Sinclair ever publicly announce that it intended
to do so. In fact, since the controversy began, Sinclair's website has
prominently displayed the following statement: "The program has not been
videotaped and the exact format of this unscripted event has not been
finalized. Characterizations regarding the content are premature and are
based on ill-informed sources."
While the news special will discuss the allegations surrounding Senator
John Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activities in the early 1970s raised by a
number of former POWs in "Stolen Honor," it will do so in the context of
the broader discussion outlined above. The program will be hosted by Jeff
Barnd, the Emmy award winning co-anchor of Fox 45's 10:00 News which airs
on WBFF-TV, Sinclair's flagship station in Baltimore, Maryland.
Joe DeFeo, Sinclair's Vice President of News commented that, "As with
all news programming produced by Sinclair's News Central, A POW Story is
being produced with the highest journalistic standards and integrity. We
have not ceded, and will not in the future cede, control of our news
reporting to any outside organization or political group. We are
endeavoring, as we do with all of our news coverage, to present both sides
of the issues covered in an equal and impartial manner."
In fact, Sinclair has been in private communication with Senator
Kerry's campaign, including a recent face-to-face meeting with senior
campaign officials, for approximately two weeks in order to negotiate
participation in the special by either Senator Kerry or his designee.
Although the Kerry campaign declined to participate, Sinclair has left the
invitation open and will make every effort to accommodate the Senator up to
the air date for the program should he become willing to present his
viewpoint for Sinclair's audience.
David Smith noted that, "The experience of preparing to air this news
special has been trying for many of those involved. The company and many
of its executives have endured personal attacks of the vilest nature, as
well as calls on our advertisers and our viewers to boycott our stations
and on our shareholders to sell their stock. In addition, and more
shockingly, we have received threats of retribution from a member of
Senator John Kerry's campaign and have seen attempts by leading members of
Congress to influence the Federal Communications Commission to stop
Sinclair from broadcasting this news special. Moreover, these coordinated
attacks have occurred without regard to the facts since they predated the
broadcast of our news special."
Mr. Smith further stated, "We cannot in a free America yield to the
misguided attempts by a small but vocal minority to influence behavior and
trample on the First Amendment rights of those with whom they might not
agree. I have been encouraged, however, by the thousands of e-mails and
other messages I, and others, received supporting Sinclair's efforts to
hold firm to its ideals in the face of a firestorm of controversy which,
ironically, was actually based on misinformation. We also took comfort in
the positions of other media organizations which supported our right to
present this story notwithstanding any disagreement they may have with the
content, as well as in the words of Michael Powell, Chairman of the FCC who
refused to block the program, noting that to do so would be
'unconstitutional' and 'an absolute disservice to the First Amendment.'"
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified
television broadcasting companies, owns and operates, programs, or provides
sales services to 62 television stations in 39 markets. Sinclair's
television group includes FOX, WB, ABC, CBS, NBC, and UPN affiliates and
reaches approximately 24% of all U.S. television households
http://sbgweb2.sbgnet.com/press/release_20041019_87.shtml
All day people have been screaming they (Sinclair) have caved to the 'Rats, or shareholders, or whatever....when they haven't. They're doing exactly what they said they'd do from square one. And, when it comes to content of the programming carried on the stations, no - they should not listen to their shareholders.
I know, I had the same reaction when I read that.
Gee, I wonder what's newsgroup is all about? I really should be more educated about the INTERNET but I've been so busy...
I plan toe this movie at the local cinema soon and carry a few friends (Democratic) as well. That'll be an eventful event :-)
At the last minute, Sinclair Broadcasting has reshuffled the broadcast schedule for their program on "Stolen Honor" and now call it "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media". The new schedule and content of the program is described in the Sinclair press release shown in the post below:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1250402/posts
Thank you for adding it to the thread. It is good to read what is on Sinclair website to go along with the articles that are being printed about them. Thank you.
Send these url's to your e-mail lists and media contacts.
Media contacts in all 50 States
http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/
Click Here for
The Final 2 Swift Boat Vets Ads!
And All of the rest!
View for FREE!
http://www2.swiftvets.com/index.php?topic=Ads
Click Here for
the FREE Stolen Honor documentary clips that Kerry
and the Democrats do not want YOU to see.
http://www.stolenhonor.com/documentary/samples.asp
Click Here for
Stolen Honor Now Available for On-Line Viewing
Only $4.99
http://www.stolenhonor.com/documentary/pay-per-view.asp
Click Here to
Buy Stolen Honor on DVD/VHS Video
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http://www.customflix.com/206157
Click Here for
List of Sinclair Stations Nationwide
http://sbgweb2.sbgnet.com/business/television.shtml
Click Here to sign
The Swift Boat Vets online petition
https://www.swiftvets.com/swift/petition.php
John F. Kerry
Timeline of a traitor.
Click Here
http://www.archive-news.net/Kerry/JK_timeline.html
Free online version of
Kerry's "The New Soldier"
You can read it online right now.
http://ejsmithweb.com/fr/newsoldier/
CLICK HERE for Video
NY Times and the Old Media
Wrong about WW II, Wrong about Iraq
In fact Wrong about every USA War!
http://www.moveamericaforward.org/Video/MAF-1-HI.wmv
Thank you so very much for the added link. We cannot be to informed when it comes to this subject.
NOTE : FOX, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC are afraid to tell the thruth.
Just like they give Hanoi Kerry a free pass on Form 180
AND is less than honorable discharge before the peanut farmer upgraded it.
TV and Cable newsrooms are in Hanoi Kerry's hip pocket kissing his a$$
Yes. The show needs to deal with the issue of "Why is it so important to The New York Times to suppress the First Amendment of a different media outlet this evening...what is it they fear you will see?".
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