I’m hard pressed to remember the last time the left had coalesced behind a grassroots, non-campaign effort the way we’ve come together to go after the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Watching this unfold since the weekend has been a beautiful thing.
As for what’s happened over the last 24 hours:
* An FCC commissioner, Democrat Michael Copps, blasted Sinclair’s move: “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.” Still no word from FCC Chairman Michael Powell, who managed to leap into action within minutes of seeing Janet Jackson’s breast during the Super Bowl, but can’t get motivated to act on the Sinclair abuse.
* The DNC did a nice job putting together a “Sinclair Action Center.”
* Tapped noted that company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Sinclair Ventures, Inc., is a major investor in a company called Jadoo Power Systems. As luck would have it, Sinclair’s investment has been lucrative — Jadoo has won some major military contracts during the Bush years and has received some “unexpected free publicity” from the president personally. Hmm.
* One major Sinclair advertiser — Sylvan Learning Center — appears to have already pulled its advertising from Sinclair because of the controversy.
* Sinclair’s stock fell again yesterday. (In case you wanted to keep track of this yourself, it’s stock symbol is SBGI)
* To demonstrate the class of the people we’re dealing with, Mark Hyman, vice president of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, compared his company’s critics to “Holocaust deniers” this week. The Anti-Defamation League was not amused.
* Paul Alexander, director of the critically-acclaimed “Brothers in Arms” film, which examines Kerry’s experience in Vietnam, has offered Sinclair a way out of this mess. Alexander will offer Sinclair the opportunity to broadcast his documentary — for free — to offer the company’s affiliates an “equal time” solution to this controversy. He’s even willing to edit its length so that it will have the exact same running time as the hatchet job Sinclair plans to air. So far, no reaction from the company.
Just as an aside, it’s heartening to see the “blogosphere” act so quickly and aggressively on this. The Sinclair controversy has generated one of the most intense and passionate responses of any political fight in recent years. It seems this company, perhaps unexpectedly, has pushed the left beyond its breaking point and it (we) just won’t tolerate this nonsense anymore. From where I sit, it’s Sinclair vs. The Blogs — and at this point, I think we’re winning.