I’m off to DC again, where I will have to play the debate drinking game all by myself tomorrow night. ;} Actually, given how ill I have been since Sunday, I will probably give it a pass. I need the sleep, plus my delicate stomach might not be able to handle the bullshit.
On your TO DO list this week: contact local sponsors and tell them to Boycott Sinclair Broadcast Group. These are the same jerks who wouldn’t air the Nightline program reading the names of Americans killed in combat in Iraq. Now Sinclair wants its stations to pre-empt their own programming and show an anti-Kerry hatchet peice called “Stolen Honor.” It’s no wonder they’re being called the next Fox.
Baltimore County-based Sinclair Broadcast Group is ordering its TV stations across the country to air a documentary on the eve of the presidential election.
The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that the documentary attacks Senator John Kerry’s anti-Vietnam War activism.
The one-hour program is called “Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal” and features former prisoners of war.
They accuse Kerry, a decorated veteran who took up the anti-war cause upon returning from Vietnam, of prolonging the war and worsening their plight.
The newspaper reported the program is to be followed by a panel discussion to which Kerry will be invited, which could satisfy fairness regulations.
Sinclair either owns or programs content for stations in 62 markets around the country, including Baltimore.
– NBC4.com
UPDATE: Jay Rosen’s PressThink has a characteristically long and thoughtful piece about the impact of this new movement in media: “A lot depends on how we define Sinclair Broadcasting: as a media company with a political agenda, or a political actor that’s gotten hold of a media company and is re-shaping it for bigger battles ahead.”