Posted on 10/20/2004 3:16:25 PM PDT by Interesting Times
Broadcaster says campaign's public war obscured efforts to make balanced show
For the past two weeks, Sen. John Kerry's campaign has waged a multi-pronged attack on the Sinclair Broadcast Group even as the Democratic nominee's representatives privately have engaged in negotiations over the airing of "Stolen Honor," an executive with the television chain contends.
In an interview with WorldNetDaily, Sinclair's vice president for corporate relations, Mark Hyman, said the discussions have taken the form of meeting face-to-face with Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill, telephone calls and written correspondence.
Hyman, who said the latest contact with Kerry's campaign was today, asserts "flawed reporting" repeated by numerous outlets has contributed to the perception that Sinclair planned to run the entire 42-minute program as a right-wing hatchet job on Kerry and then scaled back as Democrats launched a full-fledged attack.
"We told [the Kerry campaign] the entire show format was on the table and it was contingent on the level of [their] participation," Hyman said. "We also told them we were willing to travel to any location in order to accommodate the senator's campaign schedule. We finally left it that we will accommodate the senator right up until air date should he change his mind and elect to participate."
The only requests have been, he said, that Kerry "or a reasonable designee with some standing on the subject" participate and that the interview would not be restricted by requiring provision of questions in advance or narrowing the topic.
Cahill did not immediately respond to WND's request for a response.
Sinclair announced yesterday that stations in its markets, covering 24 percent of the country, will broadcast a program Friday titled "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media," examining allegations concerning Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activities and the role of media and the use of documentaries in influencing voters.
The company has issued a list of the local stations and broadcast times.
As WorldNetDaily first reported, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" presents former POWs who tell how Kerry's 1971 testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was used as propaganda against them by their North Vietnamese captors, intensifying their persecution and prolonging the war and imprisonment.
Democrats have responded on many fronts to Sinclair's announcement to air the allegations in "Stolen Honor."
"All of this has been intended to draw attention away from the heart of the matter which are the allegations made by the 13 men -- including two Medal of Honor winners -- who appear in the documentary," Hyman said. "These POWs allege that John Kerry's 1971 testimony before the Senate had a direct impact on them during their captivity in North Vietnam."
The challenges to Sinclair include:
o The Democratic National Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging that the broadcast by Sinclair would amount to an illegal campaign contribution.
o A group of 18 Democratic senators asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell to probe whether the program violated regulations on the use of public airwaves.
o The Kerry campaign wrote a legal brief to the president of Sinclair, insisting the Democratic presidential nominee should be given equal time and allowed to run his own program.
o Sinclair received a letter from a Democrat comptroller in New York on behalf of a retirement fund that holds 256,600 shares of the broadcast company, warning the controversy could damage the investment.
o A Vietnam veteran and anti-war activist who appears in the documentary has announced the filing of a libel suit against Sherwood, claiming he was falsely characterized as a "fraud" who charged soldiers with war crimes but "never set foot on the battlefield."
o A Democratic party donor, William S. Lerach, sent a letter yesterday to the news company calling the broadcast plan "reckless," alleging insider trading by officers and threatening a shareholder lawsuit.
Hyman said he is perplexed by Kerry campaign officials and surrogates referring to the POWs statements as as "lies" and "scurrilous."
"We're not certain what part of the POWs story they label as lies," he said. "Is it that they served in Vietnam? Were captured? Were held in captivity? Or that they suffered horrific abuse and unspeakable torture for years?"
He also noted that critics have referred to filmmaker Carlton Sherwood as a "Washington Times reporter" in an attempt to show the left he is beholden to a conservative bias.
"They don't mention that he has had a 36-year career in journalism that includes winning both the Pulitzer and the Peabody, the most prestigious journalism awards in both print and television, respectively," Hyman said. "He also has Emmys in TV journalism. He has worked for Gannett, CNN and at local television stations. Out of a 36-year career they cite the less than one year he spent at the Washington Times."
Hyman said no one has earned the right to speak out on Vietnam more than the POWs.
"For the news gatekeepers to ignore them when they've ended 31 years of self-imposed silence is shameless," he said.
Hyman sees hypocrisy in news organizations advancing the contention that Sinclair has a political agenda.
According to Sherwood, he notes, ABC News had no interest in speaking to the POWs in the film. Yet, last week "Nightline" aired a program based on Vietnamese villagers' accounts of disputed claims surrounding Kerry's Silver Star medal.
"ABC can send a crew halfway around the world to interview people in a Communist country, but it declines to speak to American servicemen -- including two Medal of Honor winners -- who collectively spent almost 84 years in the same Communist country being tortured and abused," Hyman said.
"Tell me ABC News isn't pursuing a political agenda. Of course they are."
Jerome Corsi, co-author of "Unfit for Command," said he sees the Kerry campaign operating in a similar manner to its reaction to the Swift Boat Vets and POWs for Truth best-seller, which documents the charges of more than 250 of Kerry's colleagues in Vietnam.
"It's John Kerry who doesn't want both sides of the story told," said Corsi, who helped line up Sinclair with Sherwood's film. "He wanted 'Unfit for Command' pulled off the bookshelves, and he went to all the stations showing television ads, threatening to sue."
The swifboat vets group has produced nine television commercials that have run in crucial swing states and nationally on cable channels.
"Kerry's band of lawyers is trying to reinterpret the First Amendment, trying to suppress any view that is unfavorable," Corsi said. "Even when they get a forum offered, they turn around and attack Sinclair."
If Kerry succeeds in suppressing free speech and wins the election, this country is in serious trouble.
Here's an excellent overview of the multi-pronged leftist attack on Stolen Honor that shows how the Kerry campaign negotiated with Sinclair while lying about the broadcast group's actions.
Thanks, waiting and watching.....
Here are some links everyone can pass on:
Kerry and his people will use threats of lawsuits against every single person who speaks ill of him. The faux war hero has a glass jaw.
"Since the fall of Milosevic, Serbia, under the auspices of Soros-backed "reformers", has become less, not more, free. The recently lifted state of emergency saw more than 4,000 people arrested, many of them without charge, political parties threatened with bans, and critical newspapers closed down"
Sound familiar?
Copy and Paste this message and send it to your
your e-mail lists and media contacts.
Media contacts in all 50 States
http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/
The FREE 3:52 Video Clip from Stolen Honor
that nails Kerry and the VVAW
and how they lied at Winter Soldier.
And how Kerry lied to the US Senate in 1971
E-mail the FREE clip to everyone NOW!
It's THE most powerful 3:52 of video that I have ever seen.
And Kerry and the DNC cannot stop
EVERYONE on the internet from seeing this!
Windows Media Player Broadband
http://www.videopa.com/kerry/excerpt3.asx
Windows Media Player Dial Up
http://www.videopa.com/kerry/excerpt3_low.asx
RealPlayer
http://www.videopa.com/kerry/excerpt3.ram
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 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 to sign
The Swift Boat Vets online petition
https://www.swiftvets.com/swift/petition.php
Click Here for
List of Sinclair Stations Nationwide
http://sbgweb2.sbgnet.com/business/television.shtml
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 to
Buy Stolen Honor on DVD/VHS Video
Only $19.99
http://www.customflix.com/206157
Click Here for
Theater's showing Celsius 41.11
The Documentary that Challenges the Lies in
"Fahrenheit 9/11" and Deconstructs John Kerry
http://www.celsius4111.com/4111/c4111_contents/where/map.shtml
John F. Kerry
Timeline of a traitor.
Click Here
http://www.archive-news.net/Kerry/JK_timeline.html
Free online version of
John Kerry and the VVAW
"The New Soldier"
Banned by the DNC!
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
The great defenders of free speech are going to great lengths to suppress a historical piece based on FACTS (Stolen Honor) while simultaneously promoting fictitious propaganda (F9/11). Liberal hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me.
Alan Colmes: So how do you talk to a conservative?
Ann Coulter: Well, we prefer facts and logic...
Meanwhile, Michael Moore was speaking to what looked like a sell-out crowd at Key Arena (Seattle) last night, making no secret of why he produced his lying propaganda movie. No lawsuits being filed there.
Market & Stations To Air "A POW Story" Baltimore WBFF Friday 10/22 8PM Birmingham WTTO Friday 10/22 7PM Buffalo WUTV Friday 10/22 8PM Cedar Rapids KGAN Friday 10/22 7PM Champaign, IL WICD Friday 10/22 7PM Charleston, SC WMMP Friday 10/22 8PM Charleston, WV WCHS Friday 10/22 8PM Cincinnati WSTR Friday 10/22 8PM Columbus WSYX Friday 10/22 8PM Dayton WKEF Friday 10/22 8PM Des Moines KDSM Friday 10/22 7PM Flint WSMH Friday 10/22 8PM Greensboro WXLV Friday 10/22 8PM Greenville/Asheville WLOS Friday 10/22 8PM Kansas City KSMO Friday 10/22 7PM Las Vegas KVWB Friday 10/22 8PM Lexington WDKY Friday-10/22 8PM Madison WMSN Friday-10/22 7PM Milwaukee WVTV Friday-10/22 7PM Minneapolis KMWB Friday-10/22 7PM Nashville WZTV Friday 10/22 7PM Norfolk WTVZ Friday 10/22 8PM Oklahoma City KOKH Friday 10/22 7PM Paducah KBSI Friday 10/22 7PM Pensacola/Mobile WEAR Friday 10/22 7PM Peoria WYZZ Friday 10/22 7PM Pittsburgh WPGH Friday-10/22 8PM Portland WGME Friday 10/22 8PM Raleigh WLFL Friday 10/22 8PM Richmond WRLH Friday-10/22 8PM Rochester WUHF Friday 10/22 8PM Sacramento KOVR Friday 10/22 7PM St. Louis KDNL Friday 10/22 7PM San Antonio KABB Friday 10/22 7PM Springfield, MA WGGB Friday 10/22 8PM Springfield, IL WICS Friday 10/22 7PM Syracuse WSYT Friday 10/22 8PM Tallahassee WTWC Friday 10/22 8PM Tampa WTTA Friday 10/22 8PM Tri Cities WEMT Friday 10/22 8PM
Which proves to me that this is exactly what Kerry would do while he's President. This was the same kind of stuff Clinton did. Underhanded to say the least.
Here's an interesting thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1251306/posts
I wish I could utter 'Unbelievable!', but I can't. Sadly, this is predictable.
I agree.
Would love for Sinclair to pull the rug and show the whole thing uncut anyway. Ask forgiveness later.
Wonder how many from the local members of terrorist cells there attended??
They still haven't cleaned up the liberals smear on the
POW story, that was put on the charleston WV website.
Someone there needs to be canned.
http://www.wchstv.com/schedule/schedule03.shtml
Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal
A for-profit Pennsylvania corporation produces a documentary about its view of Vietnam veteran John Kerry's testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971
oops, I meant here....
http://www.wvah.com/schedule/schedule03.shtml
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.