Everyone’s been wondering if there’s some kind of last-minute surprise Bush or his surrogates would spring to help change the dynamics of the election. I think the shameless Sinclair Broadcast Group, in the most disturbing display of broadcasting abuse in recent history, has unveiled this year’s “October Surprise.”
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.
This is unacceptable. A right-wing corporation is offering a Bush an extravagant in-kind contribution by airing hatchet-job propaganda immediately before the election. It’s a massive fraud beamed into one-in-four American homes, financed by Republican cash.
I’ve never even heard of such a stunt. Imagine, for a moment, if a media conglomerate owned by a liberal announced that it was forcing local stations to pre-empt regular programming a few days before the election to air Fahrenheit 9/11. The analogy isn’t entirely fair because most of what Michael Moore said is true, unlike the “Stolen Honor” smear, but I don’t imagine it’s a stretch conservatives would go after the lib with torches and pitchforks.
If you’re thinking that Sinclair Broadcast Group sounds familiar, it’s because this is the same media conglomerate that refused to air a Nightline tribute to fallen troops in Iraq because, as the corporation saw it, honoring the dead is a “political statement.”
There’s no question about Sinclair’s political agenda. The company is owned by extremely generous Republican donors. It’s already been labeled the “Clear Channel of local news” and it admittedly strives to be just like Fox News.
If you’re like me, you probably heard about this story and, after guzzling some Maalox, wondered what you could do about it. With this in mind, you might consider this subtle contact information:
Sinclair Broadcast Group
10706 Beaver Dam Road
Hunt Valley, MD 21030
Telephone: (410) 568-1500
Fax: (410) 568-1533
Email: webmaster@sbgi.net or investor@sbgi.net
Sinclair’s CEO is a man named David D. Smith.
My friend Oliver at The Liquid List also had some constructive suggestions.
One enterprising blogger has started a blog that may become the headquarters of a boycott of Sinclair’s stations and their advertisers.
1. Go there.
2. Look at the list of stations.
3. Find yours.
4. Call them.
5. Tell them you will tell everyone you know to boycott their station and their advertisers if they proceed with this blatantly partisan plan.
6. Perhaps you might even organize a protest, and tell Sinclair’s local competition that you’re holding it, and maybe they would want to send a reporter and a camera.
Sounds good to me.