The Counterpoint: Sinclair & The Anti-Kerry Doc

The rational counter to "The Point," "The Counterpoint" critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country. 

by Iowa's Ted Remington

As regular readers know, we confine ourselves to responding to Mark Hyman’s “The Point.” However, a larger issue has come up involving Sinclair Broadcasting that we needed to address in this forum.

Sinclair Broadcasting is charting new territory in shamelessness. In an overt attempt to influence the elections, Sinclair executives plan to force their affiliate stations (many of which are located in swing states) to preempt network programming to show an anti-Kerry documentary days before the election. Here’s an excerpt from the Los Angeles Times article that broke the story:

    "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."

    "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."

This cannot stand. I strongly encourage everyone reading this to file a complaint with the FCC, as well as write to your local Sinclair affiliate station managers, congressional representatives, and the editors of your local papers. These are all good options as far as putting the heat on Sinclair generally about the content of “The Point,” but this latest move makes action absolutely necessary, in our opinion.

And that’s The Counterpoint.


Sign the Stop Sinclair petition:

http://www.stopsinclair.org/index.php

Here's a site that just popped up to organize a boycott against Sinclair advertisers:

http://www.boycottsbg.com/


Also, I just added a list of local KGAN advertisers to the comments section of this post.

Thanks to Dawn Mueller for keeping Blog for Iowa up-to-the-minute with action sites.

Here’s the webpage with all the information you need for filing a complaint with the FCC:

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html#whatweneed

Sinclair Broadcasting Stations in Iowa

KGAN-TV Channel 2 CBS

KGAN-TV
PO Box 3131
Cedar Rapids, IA 52406

Email-
kgan@kgan.com

Phone Numbers

319-395-9060 or 800-642-6140

for KGAN News call 1-800-222-KGAN or 1-800-222-5426


KDSM-TV  Fox 17

KDSM FOX 17
4023 Fleur Drive
Des Moines, IA 50321

Telephone: (515) 287-1717
Fax: (515) 287-0064

General comments or questions about KDSM Fox 17:
comments@kdsm17.com
       
Comments or questions, or to contact news department:
news@kdsm17.com
   
For programming or program scheduling questions:
programming@kdsm17.com

CBS News calls the Sinclair ploy an "attackumentary."