[Peace] Anti-Kerry film to be shown on TV days BEFORE election

[Kranich, Kimberlie]

> Thought you might be interested in this from the LA Times Online...I would
> imagine WICD/WICS will have to do this.
> 
> 
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> October 9, 2004   E-mail story    Print  
>  
> 
> THE NATION
> 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.
> 
>   
> 
>  KERRY JOHN  
>  
>  SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP INC  
>  
>  DOCUMENTARIES  
>  
>  THE NATION  
>  
>  SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP INC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION  
>  
>  PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 2004  
>  
> 
> 
>    
> By Elizabeth Jensen, Times Staff Writer
> 
> 
> 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. 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Times staff writers Lynn Smith and Robert W. Welkos in Los Angeles
> contributed to this report.