Viewers Get Only a Peek of a Movie Chiding Kerry

After stirring up protest over its plans to broadcast a documentary critical of Senator John Kerry, the Sinclair Broadcast Group presented a program last night that gave short shrift to that film and offered instead a measured analysis of the debate over Mr. Kerry's Vietnam War record.

The hourlong special program, produced by the news department at Sinclair, a major financial supporter of Republican candidates and which regularly features conservative commentary on its newscasts, included as many backers of Mr. Kerry as critics.

Sinclair's producers seemed to go out of their way to create a balanced political collage in the special, called "A P.O.W. Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media."

Only about four minutes of Carlton Sherwood's anti-Kerry film, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," were included - and virtually the same amount of time was devoted to an excerpt from "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry," a film by George Butler that presents Mr. Kerry as a war hero.

The program was apparently balanced enough to satisfy a consortium of media watchdog groups, which held a telephone news conference last night to say Sinclair had acted responsibly. It also enraged a number of conservative viewers who tuned in expecting to see a hour of attacks on Mr. Kerry.

The prevailing theme of conservative viewers, as expressed on Internet Weblogs and chat rooms last night, was that Sinclair, the nation's largest local television station owner, had backed down as it saw its stock price plummet and came under intense heat from shareholder groups and advertisers for putting the company's political views ahead of its business interests.

"Sinclair has caved to pressure," wrote a poster listed as Kaferhaus on the Free Republic site, one of the largest conservative discussion forums on the Internet. "Very obviously they're running scared."

On another conservative site, Little Green Footballs, a poster identified as "mas" wrote: "Sinclair wimped out. This is more pro-Kerry than anti." The poster added, "I gave up 'Joan of Arcadia' for this?"

Sinclair executives had originally fiercely defended the right to broadcast the film, which accuses Mr. Kerry of making false statements about soldiers' atrocities and contends that those statements prolonged the captivity of American prisoners of war in Vietnam. In more recent days the company said the film was never intended to be shown in its entirety. The company did not comment last night.

The Kerry campaign was not mollified. In a statement, Chad Clanton, a Kerry spokesman, said: "Sinclair executives have given more than $100,000 to George W. Bush and the Republican Party. Tonight they supported him with millions of dollars of air time devoted to an anti-Kerry smear aimed at influencing the election."

Mr. Clanton said Sinclair had given no more than "lip service to the first amendment," in the broadcast, which was seen on 40 local television stations, many in swing states.

The Kerry campaign had earlier demanded equal time for Kerry supporters to respond to the film. But one Kerry representative said last night that the demand might now be superfluous, given how little of the film was used and how many pro-Kerry voices were included.

Beyond the brief use of clips from the two films, the program included two other segments, about four minutes each, devoted to the debate surrounding the Vietnam-era military service of both presidential candidates. It summarized questions about Mr. Kerry's Vietnam service, medals and subsequent Congressional testimony denouncing the war, as well as questions about whether President Bush got family help to join the Texas National Guard during the Vietnam War and then failed to complete his service obligation after going to Alabama to work on a political campaign.

Serving as host of the show was Jeff Barnd, an anchor with Sinclair's flagship station in Baltimore, WBFF. Mr. Barnd said Sinclair had sought an interview with Mr. Kerry repeatedly and finally approached him on the campaign trail. The senator was shown deflecting a reporter's question about the Vietnam years and criticizing Mr. Bush's record.

The most contentious part of the broadcast was the insistence by Mr. Barnd and other Sinclair officials, shown in brief clips, that the national news media had distorted the company's intentions and that the Kerry campaign, the Democratic National Committee and some members of Congress had tried to interfere with the company's First Amendment rights

HERE IS A COPY OF A LETTER THAT I SENT SINCLAIR AFTER THEY REPORTED THAT THEY WOULD SHOW STOLEN HONOR IN ITS ENTIRETY:

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.

10706 Beaver Dam Road

Hunt Valley, MD, 21030

United States

Phone: +1 410 5681500

Fax: +1 410 5681533

Sirs,

I am a shareholder of SBGI. I am also a U. S. Navy Vietnam Veteran (Mekong Delta 1970 – 1971). I cannot tell you how proud I am of your decision to show Stolen Honor. Your patriotism and steadfastness in the face of an unwarranted onslaught of partisan attacks is commendable.

The admitted far-left wing mainstream media is unapologetic about their bias toward the left. Rather, Donaldson, Jennings, etc. etc. etc., do not want the American people to see the truth depicted in Stolen Honor. I bought 4 copies of Stolen Honor when it first was available, and have been loaning copies out to my liberal leaning and un-decided friends. They had no idea about the shenanigans that John Kerry had committed that harmed our heroes. If the mainstream media were fair, they themselves would show Stolen Honor so that all Americans could know the truth and make an informed decision in the voting booth.

I most likely don’t need to remind you that John Kerry attempted to use legal threats against the publisher of Unfit For Command in an effort to stop the publishing of the book, and also against booksellers in an effort to stop the sale of the book. John Kerry’s past is disgraceful and both he and the mainstream media know it, that is why they are trying to hide it. Your showing of Stolen Honor only scratches the surface of John Kerry’s despicable deeds and the harm that he caused to Vietnam Veterans.

I recently had to try and explain to my 13 year old daughter why a United States Senator would lie to the American public when he said that Vietnam Veterans “cut off heads”. She had equated Vietnam Veterans to the sub-humans that are beheading people in Iraq. Think about that for a minute.

Not only was I spat on upon my return from Vietnam, but 33 years later I have had to defend my honor to my own daughter, due primarily to John Kerry.

Please do not allow any intimidation to prevent you from showing the real John Kerry to the American people. Please proceed with pride, and know that right will prevail. Now is the time to stand tall. Another opportunity may never come.

Very truly yours,

With appreciation and gratitude,

I FEEL I WAS DUPED BY SINCLAIR! SINCLAIR SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES!

I HAVE NOT YET SENT THEM A LETTER OF HOW DISSAPOINTED I AM WITH THEM, BUT I HAVE PUT AN ORDER IN TO SELL MY SINCLAIR STOCK FIRST THING MONDY MORNING.

But starting Monday, "Stolen Honor" will be available FREE on the internet and everywhere else.

Anti-Kerry documentary available for free (Stolen Honor News!)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1253577/posts

The controversial documentary on Sen. John Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activities will be made available free to the public, it's producer said Friday.

Producer Carlton Sherwood said "Stolen Honor" would be available on the Internet Monday and would also be available for screening or broadcasting.

"I want to be sure that every American who wants to see this film is allowed to do so," he said in a news release. "Therefore, I am offering the film publicly to anyone who wants to see it.

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