Posted on 10/19/2004 10:13:45 PM PDT by Fatalis
Under mounting political, legal and financial pressure, Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. yesterday backed away from its plan to carry a film attacking John F. Kerry's Vietnam War record, saying it would air only portions of the movie in an hour-long special scheduled for Friday.
"The experience of preparing to air this news special has been trying for many of those involved," Sinclair chief executive David D. Smith said in a statement. "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."
Chad Clanton, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign, which had demanded equal time to respond to the planned airing of the 42-minute film "Stolen Honor," said Sinclair "has been all over the map on this issue. One thing that's certain is that they have a partisan agenda."
Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of the nonprofit Media Access Project, called the Sinclair move "a surprising cave-in" and said the 62-station television company "clearly felt a lot of pressure and this is an attempt to find a face-saving way out."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Anti-Kerry Film Showing Canceled (Check out the pic, welcome to Philly LOL)
The guy on the left is a good guy - the guy on the right is a bad guy, and just shoved the guy on the left. Guy on the left is a Marine.
you mean they are actually generating publicity???
hmmm.
need to watch that.
The MSM is trying to undo the unexpected publicity they gave Stolen Honor last week. They want people to think its not being aired. Something like.. "move along folks there's nothing to see here".
I imagine with all this free publicity, the ratings for this
show will be through the roof.
It's Sinclair's website, so you have to like the source.
Here's one link from earlier today
Sinclair Says Will Not Air Kerry Show in Entirety
http://reuters.myway.com/article/20041019/2004-10-19T201735Z_01_WEN7231_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-MEDIA-SINCLAIR-DC.html ^
Right here on Free Republic if you do a search you will see that
1). This has been brought up
2). IT is NOT A CAVE IN, so everyone calm down....There are more links out there,,chill and check it out...
It's actually perfect really. Sinclair is going to do a piece that includes a POW story AND the attempts at the MSM to influence the election, including something about the pressure that has been put on them to not show Stolen Honor, mentions the senators that are against it...
It's a beautiful thing!
TV stations told to pull plug on anti-Kerry film
By Mark Memmott, USA TODAY
A media company that had planned to broadcast much of a film that attacks Sen. John Kerry on its 62 TV stations significantly changed its plans Tuesday amid protests from some of its shareholders and Kerry's supporters.
The company Sinclair Broadcast Group of Hunt Valley, Md. didn't immediately satisfy its most vocal critics. But the change seems to make it less likely that the program will be mostly devoted to the anti-Kerry film.
Sinclair's management had told managers of its stations three weeks ago to plan to broadcast a program devoted almost entirely to the controversial film Stolen Honor, Wounds that Never Heal. The film accuses Sen. John Kerry of betraying his fellow Vietnam War veterans, particularly prisoners of war, by protesting that war after he returned home in 1969.
On Tuesday, the Sinclair plan was partly responsible for threats of legal action from some shareholders. They're upset about a sharp drop in the company's stock, which they say was partially due to the controversy over Stolen Honor. Sinclair's stock closed Tuesday at $6.26. It has fallen more than 50% this year.
But late Tuesday afternoon, Sinclair announced that this Friday most of its stations will air "a special one-hour news program entitled A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media." It said the program "will focus in part on the use of documentaries and other media to influence voting." Sinclair said portions of Stolen Honor would be shown, but only as part of "the broader discussion" about the media.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-10-19-anti-kerry-film_x.htm
WaPo is such crap...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,135298,00.html
Clearly stated that they will only show PART of it... and that was on the 13th.
Yes, but it bears today's date,
whereas this article is dated
the 20th (tomorrow).
You just know they are going to use the Chad Clanton clip.
I know, I was one of those people that was outraged at first too. The initial headline I saw was that Cavuto had announced Sinclair was not showing Stolen Honor. I almost had a stroke and did exactly what most fair-minded people would do...I was furious.
Then, it was pointed out to me that the headline was a tad misleading.
So, in the spirit of trying to soothe nerves, I just want y'all to know, it seems to me,,,Sinclair is being very smart. Plus, look, the publicity generated has been huge, as pointed out here by several people..
God Bless our Vets. I think it's a perfect pairing, a POW story and a story on Media attempts and intimidation in order to influence this election. I like both topics. I was sad to hear it's only going to be an hour long.
I hope so. I hope they use every stupd Dem supporting clip out there. I hope they highlight Moore and Rather and the Ditzy Chicks. I hope they highlight the attempts at censorship by the senators in Congress....
I really hope it's HARD hitting. I don't know Sinclair at all, by name. I hope they really drive it home!
If this film was the Bush October surprise, it sure fizzled!
There were post-debate articles up before the debate even started. I guess it's the new form of rushing news to the presses to get the scoop.
Dewey beat Truman you know? ;o)
Sinclair's stock price was going up today, though I don't know where it closed.
Are they trying to create a perception of guilt? I think Sinclair could do a good hour program just on the reactions of the MSM in regards to "Stolen Honor".
They try to demoralize us with bullying because they only fear physical injury and they feel certain that we will back off and surrender our integrity and dignity rather than go to that solution.
There's not a damned thing surprising about this. It was utterly and completely predictable.
The vast majority of "conservative" businessmen are cowards when it comes to politics. End of story.
Again.....NOT TRUE.
Anybody who bothered to go to their website from day one saw they said news reports of their plans were inaccurate and the program was not taped.
It isn't caving when the initial reports weren't true to begin with!
The bottom line is that the left got some of what it wanted. As it always does.
I for one am tired of Republicans who bend over for these SOB's and call it a victory.
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