Posted on 10/12/2004 10:29:52 AM PDT by LeftCoastNeoCon
Edited on 10/12/2004 11:02:58 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
FCC COMMISSIONER STATEMENT ON SINCLAIR AIRING OF ANTI-KERRY SHOW
Tue Oct 12 2004 13:39:02 ET
FCC COMMISSIONER COPPS CRITICIZES SINCLAIR CORPORATE DECISION TO PREEMPT LOCAL STATIONS FOR POLITICAL BROADCAST
Commissioner Michael J. Copps reacted to reports that Sinclair Broadcast Group will preempt more than 60 local stations across the country to air an overtly political program in the days prior to the Presidential election.
Copps stated: "This is an abuse of the public trust. And it is proof positive of media consolidation run amok when one owner can use the public airwaves to blanket the country with its political ideology -- whether liberal or conservative.Some will undoubtedly question if this is appropriate stewardship of the public airwaves. This is the same corporation that refused to air Nightline's reading of our war dead in Iraq. It is the same corporation that short-shrifts local communities and local jobs by distance-casting news and weather from hundreds of miles away.It is a sad fact that the explicit public interest protections we once had to ensure balance continue to be weakened by the Federal Communications Commission while it allows media conglomerates to get even bigger. Sinclair, and the FCC, are taking us down a dangerous road."
END
"FCC ISSUES STATEMENT ..."
If Copp is only a Commissioner, do the OTHER Commissioners have a statement for does he speak for them too?
Copp is not the Chairman so .... ??
Show it any way
make them play their hand and let the censorship loving libnazis show who they are
Even if they ultimately don't show the film, producer could now distribute DVDs/videos or another medium and probably sell quite a few - thanks to the publicity generated by Kerry and friends.
Maybe asked your family for a subscription for Christmas so you can listen? Or appeal to Rush. I'd like more people to listen to him too and wish he didn't charge to listen on-line.
I said the announcement of it was a publicity stunt....EVERYONE is now paying attention to the film, yet Sinclair hasn't aired one frame of it, as far as I know.
Of course airing the film isn't a stunt, but maximizing publicity like this is brilliant.
They better hope we don't win."
Message from the Kerry camp to Sinclair.
........
Isn't that chilling! WE'll get all of you who aren't under our thumb...
At least Kerry is finally revealing one of his "plans"
Copps stated: “This is an abuse of the public trust.
Oh yes, now he's concerned about the public trust. Where was he when the ABC Halpin memo directing reporting be biased in favor of Kerry was revealed? How about the fraudlent CBS Rather documents? How concerend was Mr Copps about the public trust then? Inquiring minds want to see the statements he made on those subjects. Can anyone find them??
This should NOT be billed as "anti-Kerry" broadcasting.
It should be billed as "Documentary about Vietnam POW-s".
POW-s and their families HAVE a right to speak.
Why is it that Moore's lies were touted as a "documentary", instead of an anti-Bush fiction?
How many hourse of anti-Bush propaganda do we see on TV, that is claimed to be news reporting? CBS-s Dan Rather show is just one.
Copps is correct ... break up ABC / CBS / NBC right now! Chop them back to the relatively small numbers held by Sinclair!
Not only was Copps a bad appointment but so was Max Cleland. Bush appointed him to some banking commission I think. I know he appointed him to something and now he is also getting paid to bad mouth Bush all over the country. Bush is very naive I think - unfortuntely he grew up believing in the "Golden Rule" - he didn't realize that the Democrats think the golden rule is too radically idealogical like the Pope even.
BTW the little twit on Linda Vester's show also said that whenever he sees the as from the SBVT he wants to throw his boot into the TV. Real class, huh?
Also, what do you think about Edwards saying that under a Kerry administration, paralyzed people will be able to get up out of their wheelchairs and walk. I new these guys had humungous egos but Puhleeeeeeeeeeeeeze!
Ernest Hollings (D-SC)
LOLOL This is getting too ridiculous. Wasn't Hollings a co signer to that bogus DRAFT bill that died? I think he might of been one of the two Democrats who voted FOR it.
GAWD!!
Once Powell weighs in, that's the FCC's decision.
Rush said before the top of the hour he has the audio. After this news break he'll play it. I missed it live but saw the FR thread about it.
Sinclair's television group includes 20 FOX, 19 WB, 6 UPN, 8 ABC, 3 CBS, 4 NBC affiliates and 2 independent stations and reaches approximately 24% of all U.S. television households.62 television stations in 39 markets <-- Check here
MCCAIN LETTER TO SINCLAIR BROADCAST ON PREEMPTION OF NIGHTLINE
For Immediate Release
Friday, Apr 30, 2004U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) issued the following letter today to Mr. David Smith, President and CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, in response to the preemption of this evening's Nightline program:
I write to strongly protest your decision to instruct Sinclair's ABC affiliates to preempt this evening's Nightline program. I find deeply offensive Sinclair's objection to Nightline's intention to broadcast the names and photographs of Americans who gave their lives in service to our country in Iraq.
MCCAIN LETTER TO SINCLAIR BROADCAST ON PREEMPTION OF NIGHTLINE
Statement of Sinclair Broadcast Group
The ABC Television Network announced on Tuesday that the Friday, April 30 edition of "Nightline" will consist entirely of Ted Koppel reading aloud the names of U.S. servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq. Despite the denials by a spokeswoman for the show, the action appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq.
There is no organization that holds the members of our military and those soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in service of our country in higher regard than Sinclair Broadcast Group. While Sinclair would support an honest effort to honor the memory of these brave soldiers, we do not believe that is what "Nightline" is doing. Rather, Mr. Koppel and "Nightline" are hiding behind this so-called tribute in an effort to highlight only one aspect of the war effort and in doing so to influence public opinion against the military action in Iraq. Based on published reports, we are aware of the spouse of one soldier who died in Iraq who opposes the reading of her husband's name to oppose our military action. We suspect she is not alone in this viewpoint. As a result, we have decided to preempt the broadcast of "Nightline' this Friday on each of our stations which air ABC programming.
We understand that our decision in this matter may be questioned by some. Before you judge our decision, however, we would ask that you first question Mr. Koppel as to why he chose to read the names of 523 troops killed in combat in Iraq, rather than the names of the thousands of private citizens killed in terrorist attacks since and including the events of September 11, 2001. In his answer, we believe you will find the real motivation behind his action scheduled for this Friday. Unfortunately, we may never know for sure because Mr. Koppel has refused repeated requests from Sinclair's News Central news organization to comment on this Friday's program.
http://www.newscentral.tv/station/statement.shtml
I think you're on to something.
I had never heard of "Sinclair Broadcasting" before this whole deal.
Fire up your browser and aim it at wabcradio.com.
Rush/Hannity stream there daily, at no charge, back to back (noon til six), using RealPlayer.
We welcome your comments regarding the upcoming special news event featuring the topic of Americans held as prisoners of war in Vietnam. 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.
Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has been invited to participate. You can urge him to appear by calling his Washington, D.C. campaign headquarters at (202) 712-3000.
if you would like to make further comments on this matter, you may do so at:
comments@sbgi.net
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.