Sinclair stirs up another political hornet's nest
TV group Sinclair Broadcasting is planning to air an anti-John Kerry documentary called "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" across its multi-market, multi-network station group before the election 11/2. The move, to say the least, is not popular among those supporting Kerry.
In fact, the Democratic National Committee is filing with the FEC to block the airing of the program, calling it an "illegal in-kind contribution to the Bush-Cheney campaign."
Sinclair has 62 television stations with a potential household reach of 24%. 14 of the stations are said to be in swing states, including Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The program concerns Kerry's testimony before Congress during the Vietnam war. The 42-minute program, to date available only as a DVD or computer download, will be shown commercial free as a news program and followed by a discussion panel.
Various reports indicate that the Kerry campaign has declined to participate. However, it is possible that Sinclair's offer of an opportunity to respond would cover challenges to the program's lack of balance.
One watchdog went so far as to say that demands for equal time could be made in favor of a candidate besides Kerry, in a backhanded way, since he's the only candidate appearing in the program.
Airing "SH:WTNH" would cause equal opportunity preemptions, at any rate. Sinclair could put it on affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, UPN and WB.
Watchdog Media Matters for America says the program is propaganda, not news, and has no business going on the air. Another liberal website is already looking to mount challenges to Sinclair license renewals.
Sinclair, which regularly runs conservative opinion pieces on its local news programs in an era where most television groups stay far away from OpEd material, ran into a firestorm when it preempted an broadcast of ABC's "Nightline" which it found objectionable (5/3/04 RBR Daily Epaper #86).
RBR observation:
The "Nightline" and "SH:WTNH" episodes share one characteristic: They are both blatantly political, completely lacking any subtlety at all. The are also contradictory. In the first case, Sinclair ordered its affiliates not to broadcast a program because it was propaganda, even though most observers said it was not, including at length John McCain (R-AZ). Now, in the second instance, it's ordering its stations to air as news a program most would call propaganda, and at the most highly-charged point of a hotly-contested election. If Sinclair is doing anything, it is fueling the movement to revive the Fairness Doctrine, not to mention efforts to turn back the clock on broadcast ownership consolidation.
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