So we already know that Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcasting Group is essentially a group of right-wing hacks that feel that they can use the public airwaves to wage their agenda. (As NYT columnist Frank Rich noted that Sinclair actually does make Fox News look fair and balanced! "It's hard to imagine an operation more insidious than [Fox owner Rupert] Murdoch's, but the Sinclair Broadcast Group may be it," he said in his column on Sunday.)
The company, the largest owner of television stations outside of the networks themselves, first refused to broadcast ABC News Nightline when anchor Ted Koppel read the names of the fallen soldiers. They felt it was anti-war. Now the company is planning on airing a anti-Kerry movie under the guise that it is news. The group's Washington bureau chief spoke out calling the broadcast 'indefensible,' so yesterday, they fired him! TaDa!
Sinclair Fires Critic of Plan to Broadcast Anti-Kerry Film [WP, 10.19.2004]
By Howard Kurtz
The Washington bureau chief of Sinclair Broadcast Group was fired yesterday after accusing the media company of "indefensible" conduct for planning to air a movie attacking Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam record in the coming days.
The most enjoyable tidbits that come from this story:
* Sinclair Vice President Mark Hyman (who broadcasts commentaries on Sinclair stations) said in a statement: "Everyone is entitled to their personal opinion, including Jon Leiberman. We are disappointed that Jon's political views caused him to speak to the press about company business." The statement called him a "disgruntled employee."
* Leiberman noted that Sinclair has built a new studio for the program.
* Leiberman also noted that Sinclair has not done an hour-long special on any other matter related to the campaign or the war in Iraq.
* The Baltimore Sun, which first quoted Leiberman, today quotes Geneva Overholser, a former editor of The Des Moines Register and ombudsman of The Washington Post, who praised Leiberman for what she termed his courage. "I have a pantheon of heroes, and he's now among them," Overholser said. "He was willing to stand up and say what the news department has to do is stand for fairness and balance."
The NYP editorializes that "Americans are adults, not ignoramuses whose minds will be corrupted by "illegal" advertising." And that is true. I don't question whether citizens can handle it. I question the group that does it and whether such a group shold have access to public airwaves only to carry out their own agenda. This is not a news program in any way. It is a group of very conservative people trying to sway an election. That's fine if they want to do that, but they should have to pay for the air time.
Just an aside: It is not that they are conservative. If Sinclair wanted to broadcast Michael Moore's propoganda film Fahrenheit 9-11, I would be equally outraged. And one can only imagine the consternation among those commentators who are noticably silent right now.
Regardless, this group of thugs are proving themselves to be the most reprehensible company in the country. Congratulations! No small feat!
Find out more about how to act against Sinclair at stopsinclair.org
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