Los Angeles Times: Conservative TV Group to Air Anti-Kerry Film
Sinclair, with reach into many of the nation's homes, will preempt
prime-time shows. Experts call the move highly unusual.
By Elizabeth Jensen
Times Staff Writer
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-sinclair9oct09,1,4817545.story?coll=la-home-headlines
October 9, 2004
NEW YORK - The conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose
television outlets reach nearly a quarter of the nation's homes with
TV, is ordering its stations to preempt regular programming just days
before the Nov. 2 election to air a film that attacks Sen. John F.
Kerry's activism against the Vietnam War, network and station
executives familiar with the plan said Friday.
Sinclair's programming plan, communicated to executives in recent days
and coming in the thick of a close and intense presidential race, is
highly unusual even in a political season that has been marked by media
controversies.
Sinclair has told its stations - many of them in political swing states
such as Ohio and Florida - to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never
Heal," sources said. The film, funded by Pennsylvania veterans and
produced by a veteran and former Washington Times reporter, features
former POWs accusing Kerry - a decorated Navy veteran turned war
protester - of worsening their ordeal by prolonging the war.
Sinclair will preempt regular prime-time programming from the networks
to show the film, which may be classified as news programming,
according to TV executives familiar with the plan.
Executives at Sinclair did not return calls seeking comment, but the
Kerry campaign accused the company of pressuring its stations to
influence the political process.
"It's not the American way for powerful corporations to strong-arm
local broadcasters to air lies promoting a political agenda," said
David Wade, a spokesman for the Democratic nominee's campaign. "It's
beyond yellow journalism; it's a smear bankrolled by Republican money,
and I don't think Americans will stand for it."
Sinclair stations are spread throughout the country, in major markets
that include Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas; its only California
station is in Sacramento. Fourteen of the 62 stations the company
either owns or programs are in the key political swing states of Ohio,
Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where the presidential election is
being closely fought.
Station and network sources said they have been told the Sinclair
stations - which include affiliates of Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, as well as
WB and UPN - will be preempting regular programming for one hour
between Oct. 21 and Oct.24, depending on the city. The airing of
"Stolen Honor" will be followed by a panel discussion, which Kerry will
be asked to join, thus potentially satisfying fairness regulations, the
sources said.
Kerry campaign officials said they had been unaware of Sinclair's plans
to air the film, and said Kerry had not received an invitation to
appear.
No one familiar with the plan was willing to criticize it publicly,
some because they said they don't know all the details of what Sinclair
plans for the panel that follows. But a number of people privately
expressed outrage at the seemingly overt nature of the political
attack, which comes during a tight election and at a time when the
media are under assault as never before. Cable's Fox News Channel was
attacked in the summer by a coalition of liberal groups for what they
said were its efforts to boost Republicans; in recent weeks, CBS' Dan
Rather has been criticized by conservatives, as well as some
nonpartisan journalists, for a "60 Minutes" broadcast that used
now-discredited documents in a report saying President Bush received
favorable treatment when in the Texas Air National Guard in the 1970s.
Democrats have for some time accused Sinclair, a publicly traded
company based in Maryland, of a having a right-wing agenda.
The company made headlines in April when it ordered seven of its
stations not to air Ted Koppel's "Nightline" roll call of military dead
in Iraq, deeming it a political statement "disguised as news content."
Sen. John McCain, the Republican from Arizona who was a prisoner of war
in Vietnam, was among those who criticized Sinclair's decision not to
air the "Nightline" program, which featured the names and pictures of
more than 700 U.S. troops.
Even before the "Nightline" controversy, Sinclair drew criticism
because of the combination of its highly centralized news operations,
which often include conservative commentary, and its almost exclusively
Republican political giving. In the 2004 political cycle, Sinclair
executives have given nearly $68,000 in political contributions, 97% to
Republicans, ranking it 12th among top radio and TV station group
contributors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a
campaign finance watchdog group.
The upcoming "Stolen Honor" will probably bring fresh attention to
Sinclair. "I can't think of a precedent of holding up programming to
show a political documentary at a point where it would have the maximum
effect on the vote," said Jay Rosen, chairman of New York University's
journalism department. But the program will only be the latest in a
string of politically charged media events in this campaign.
Representatives of Michael Moore's anti-Bush "Fahrenheit 9/11," which
has grossed $214 million worldwide, are in talks for a deal to make the
film available on pay-per-view cable the night before
the election. The Sundance Channel plans to air live clips Monday from
the anti-Bush "Vote for Change" rock concert.
Cable, however, doesn't have the reach of broadcast stations like
Sinclair's, nor is it subject to the same federal regulations. Still,
although broadcast stations are required to provide equal time to major
candidates in an election campaign, the Sinclair move may not run afoul
of those provisions if Kerry or a representative is offered time to
respond. Moreover, several sources said Sinclair had told them it
planned to classify the program as news, where the rules don't apply.
Calling it news, however, poses its own problems, said Keith Woods,
dean of the faculty at the Poynter Institute, a journalism school in
St. Petersburg, Fla., that teaches professional ethics. "To air a
documentary intended to provide a one-sided view of Kerry's record and
call it news - it's like calling Michael Moore's movie news," he said,
adding that the closer to an election that a controversial news report
is aired, the "higher the bar has to go" in terms of fairness.
Clearly, Sinclair's reach will bring a much wider audience to the film.
The 42-minute film has only been available on DVD or for $4.99 through
an Internet download, although fans had been mounting an Internet
campaign to get it wider exposure.
"Stolen Honor" was made by Carlton Sherwood, a Vietnam veteran and
former reporter for the conservative Washington Times who is also the
author of a book about the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. On the website for the
film, he tells viewers, "Intended or not, Lt. Kerry painted a depraved
portrait of Vietnam veterans, literally creating the images of those
who served in combat as deranged drug-addicted psychopaths, baby
killers" that endured for 30 years in the popular culture.
Sherwood did not return calls seeking comment.
Times staff writers Lynn Smith and Robert W. Welkos in Los Angeles
contributed to this report.
Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times
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