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Take Back The Media calls for sponsor boycott against Channels 22/53
by The Voice of Labor
Sunday, Oct. 10, 2004 at 4:44 PM
thevoiceoflabor@centurytel.net (email address validated)
The boycott has been called against all sponsors of Sinclair owned and/or operated TV stations, including WCWB-22 and WPGH-33 in Pittsburgh.
Remember the ruckus that the conservatives raised about the advertising that Michael Moore planned to do for 'Fahrenheit 9/11?' How the commercials were deemed to be 'campaign commercials for Kerry' and a violation of campaign advertising laws?
Well, those were nothing compared to this:
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.
You may remember Sinclair as the broadcast group that refused to air the Nightline program that ran the names of American military killed in Iraq.
This is an unprecedented use of commercial airwaves - airwaves that belong to us - for blatantly political purposes, and a clear violation of campaign advertising restrictions. It must not be allowed to stand.
A list of all Sinclair stations can be found at http://www.sbgi.net/business/markets/all.shtml on their corporate website. While TBTM usually encourages our readers to contact the stations themselves, Sinclair is simply too politically motivated at this point for contacting them to do much good.
So this time, we urge anyone who has a Sinclair outlet in their area to write their local papers and contact Sinclair's competitors to call attention to this on a local level. If enough pressure is brought to bear from the bottom up, individual outlets may be persuaded to pass on running this piece of anti-Kerry propaganda.
Do not let them get away with this. Stop it today. Thank you.
http://web.takebackthemedia.com/geeklog/public_html/article.php?story=20041009160520115
boycottsinclair.blogspot.com
by The Voice of Labor
Monday, Oct. 11, 2004 at 11:01 AM
thevoiceoflabor@centurytel.net
This is really taking off fast.
http://boycottsinclair.blogspot.com
WHAT?
by Voice of Sanity
Monday, Oct. 11, 2004 at 2:17 PM
Boycott them? Why are you even wasting your time with this. No body watches those channels anyway.
boycotting Sinclair
by Jeff
Monday, Oct. 11, 2004 at 3:50 PM
whirlwind37@gmail.com
Obviously someone must be watching them otherwise they wouldn't still be in business.
more on sinclair
by Jeff
Monday, Oct. 11, 2004 at 3:52 PM
whirlwind37@gmail.com
Also check out...
http://www.boycottsinclairbroadcasting.com/pages/1/index.htm
and
http://www.stopsinclair.org/index.php
WHY DO WE NEED LEFTWING CENSORS
by Let The People Decide
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004 at 6:01 AM
Don't react before you have seen the documentary, unless, of course, you subscribe to blindly following the decisions which President-Wannabe John Kerry and his advisers make for you. Make your own decisions. Let the documentary be bradcast adn let ecveryone make infomred decisions. Isn't this what democracy is about (isn't this what IMC is about).
Of course, the Kerry campaign has gone ballistic about "Stolen Honor," a documentary featuring interviews with former Vietnam POWs who recall their Vietnamese captors using Mr. Kerry's 1971 antiwar statements as instruments of intimidation and torture. These are real stories, first hand accounts of experiences, much different then John Kerry's purported "second hand" accoutns of the "testimony" whihc he gave in 1971.
Here we have a factual presentation of important information. Valid reporting and documentary. Yet, Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton and the campaign have asked supporters to stage boycotts and demonstrations against the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which plans to air "Stolen Honor" on all of its 62 TV stations. Democratic Senator (and sometimes U-Boat Commander)Ted Kennedy and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein are already writing a letter demanding the Federal Communications Commission investigate whether Sinclair is violating fairness guidelines. It all looks like another attempt by the Deomcrats to silence their opposition, unjustly deride their critics, avoid confronting the truth and again assault the free speech rights of Americans.
However, this controversy has ignored the content of the documentary itself. Its producer, Carlton Sherwood, although often dismissed as a former reporter for the conservative Washington Times, is a highly-decorated Marine Corps veteran served in Vietnam and then returned home and covered John Kerry's anti-war activities for the Philadelphia Bulletin.
Mr. Sherwood's documentary is legitimate news since Mr. Kerry has highlighted his Vietnam-era service and other news outlets have chosen largely to ignore his anti-Vietnam War activities and made these the centerpiece of his campaign and suitability to lead America.
The networks and the Democrats (and their supporters) are acting like Holocaust deniers and pretending that the POWs and others directly affected by John Kerry's reckless conduct do not exist. It would be irresponsible to ignore these individuals and John Kerry's lack of candor and judgment as the self-appointed leader of a political movement. It would be equally reckless to ignore the fundamental character of John Kerry which allows him to justify and rationalize the fact that he placed these people in direct harm for the furtherance of his own political purposes.
Why not watch it and let the people decide. Not unlike what the Left had suggested with respect to Mike Moore's loosely assembled string of misrepresentations and distortion which the Left has attempt to pass off for documentary. Or is there something that the Left is afraid of .. like facing the facts and dealing with the consequences of the selfish and reckless actions of the political demagogue which now seeks the Presidency for the Democrats.
....
by ....
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004 at 6:15 AM
you've got to be kidding me.
ya, this is just "news" eh? then why is Sinclair forcing the stations to air it? in the spirit of let the people decide who can better determine in views are interested then the stations themselves, why force it on them? and why say it has to be commercial free? How many other news items has Sinclair aired commercial free?
There are so many signs that this is a political move for the purpose of attacking the kerry campaign.
and I don't even like Kerry!
Amnesiacs for Bush?
by Arson Daily
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004 at 6:36 AM
If my memory serves me well, didn't the violent US religious fundamentalists throw a similar tantrum when a biopic about the lionized drooling paperweight who founded al Qaeda and is one of the worst (mis)leaders in human history was to be aired on CBS.
Also on that note, although nothing will likely ever come of it, but FAUX News is under investigation by both the FCC and the FEC for it's obvious partisan stance and violations of journalistic integrity.
Get it straight
by Opie Minded
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004 at 12:02 PM
Now I am not any fan of the "drooling paperweight" (how sweet and understanding), but the conservative fringe was upset that the Reagan show did not proeprly present Reagan. For example, there were statements in there attributed to Reagan that he never made ("All fags are a curse on humanity" or somethign like that which he never said).
Sinclair is a private company and they are permitted to do their program as they want. They may beleive that there is a real interest in this documentary (which I am sure there is) that can only help their ratings. Since they are primarily a small market second tier broadcast group, the value of not having people endure the local advertising that they typically fill their time with will help keep viewers. And the hope is likely that these viewers will now be aware of the existence of the Sinclair station and return to watch the Mork & Mindy reruns some other time.
Hey, at least it isn't ABC News, which is supposed to be an independnet unbiased news organization, directing its reports to give John Kerry a pass nad not ask him the tough questions. Maybe this media bias in favor of John Kerry is exactly why everyone needs to see the Sinclair documentary.
Understanding?
by Arson Daily
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004 at 12:23 PM
First and foremost, we simply don't have the buying power(dumpster divers) of the clean-shaven Taliban that constitutes the US religious right, whose minor tantrum may well have been due to falsehoods, but the big tantrum about the Reagan biopic was that it strayed away from their eerie lionization of al Qaeda's founder.
As a loyal Simpsons fan, (I know it's a FAUX comedy, but I watch it like some of their other yukfests, like O'Reilly & Hannity)this does pose a moral connundrum for me. As far as understanding goes, it's pathological to view that monster with any compassion. If I did waht Reagan did the US and the world and you'd turn your cheek to me in such a fashion, you'd better know a helluva plastic surgeon.
None of the networks ask hard questions of their lapdogs, regardless of which wing of the US war party they constitute. The candidates exist for the sake of the companies that own the networks, and not the other way around.
Now GW Vietnam movie would be worth checking out. His refusal take take drug tests and his objection to combat are two of his more admirable traits.
LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE
by Eugene Simpson
Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004 at 8:26 PM
thamspx1@aol.com 856 566 7547
When the largest conglomerate of local TV stations in America orders its affiliates to preempt the regular programming to air a 90 minute propaganda piece which the Sinclair CEO designates as news, America has become a Fascist State, if he is allowed to get away with it. When Clear Channel bosses ordered the banning of records by the Dixie Chicks, and got away with it because of Republican Congressional control, that was the beginning of the end of Democracy on the air waves. All the networks are Public Corporations who use the people's airwaves for free by permission of the Federal Government which represents, or should represent, all the citizens of America. While the incident with the Dixie Chicks was disturbing, the effort of Sinclair to influence the presidential election is an abrogation of its public trust deserving of license cancellation. With the tacit approval of the FCC which is permitting the concentration of the entire media in the hands of a few largely right-wing owners, we now have in America a greater propaganda network than Goebbels ever had in Nazi Germany ot Task ever represented in Soviet Russia. The majority of Americans are already totally brainwashed and recite the propaganda mantras of the Bush Administration simply because it is fed to them hundreds of times daily. Those few of us who have not yet fallen under the Orwellian Curse must exhaust every effort to Stop Sinclair dead in its tracks. Maybe that way, we can break the spell the media has cast on the uninformed and unaware!
Dems Attack Free Speech .... Again
by Freedom
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 at 9:04 AM
Why is it that when someone merely questions the left, it is an assault on free speech, but when the left seeks to silence anyone who tries to present the truth or expose the disengenuous pandering of the left it is a fight of liberty. The Dems want to keep us all in the dark. THe Sinclair documentary is important. Just like the left said Michael Moore's piece was. I have seen Michael More's so called documentary and found it lacking in cohesive presentation, giving little more than specualtion. I want to see the Sinclair piece and make my own judgments.
Yet, if John Kerry is elected president, meetings of the Federal Communications Commission could be much more interesting. Yesterday, campaign spokesman Chad Clanton was on Fox News to complain about the Sinclair Broadcast Group's decision to air a controversial documentary featuring Vietnam POWs saying their captors used Mr. Kerry's 1971 anti-war statements as part of their efforts to intimidate and torture them.
"There is an abuse of public trust," Mr. Clanton said. "Listen, they better look out there at Sinclair Broadcasting. I'm not a lawyer, but they have stirred up a lot of people." He added: "I think they are going to regret doing this, and they better hope we don't win." (When asked directly if the Kerry forces were contemplating denying licenses to Sinclair stations, Mr. Clanton said "no.")
Nonetheless, Democrats rattled by the success of Fox News and talk radio are privately talking up regulatory action against their adversaries if they run the FCC. When MSNBC's Chris Matthews asked Howard Dean last year if he would break up Fox News, Mr. Dean replied "On ideological grounds, absolutely yes... What I'm going to do is appoint people to the FCC that believe democracy depends on getting information from all portions of the political spectrum, not just one."
Such talk makes Sinclair's rare desire to plunge into a political controversy all the more remarkable. If Mr. Kerry does win, the battle lines for his great media confrontation have already been drawn.
Democratic intimidation ... again. Let free speech reign. For all the bluster here at IMC, where is that message that the airwaves deserve to be free and not controlled by anyone? Or is it suddenly convenient that the governemtn shoudl contrl what we hear adn see.
...
by ....
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 at 9:21 AM
your argument is illogical and not bourn out by the facts.
Sinclair itself has said in the past (in the case of nightlines broadcast of the US war dead), that they don't want to air partisan things.
In the case of Fahrenheit 9-11, it was in theatres, where people paid to see it, and it had no claim of objectivity. I highly doubt any company is going to preempt programming to show that movie without commercials. In any event, that is a far different situation then stations being commanded to preempt regular programming to air a 90 minute documentary, on airways that are publicly licensed because they are the property of the people, held in trust by the government.
i
by i
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 at 11:03 AM
So it's ok for CBS to air a documentary based on forged documents and PBS to air puff pieces on Kerry? No one is being forced to watch this.
As far as comparing this to Goebbels Ministry of Propaganda, I'd advise the person that offered that mindless comment to take their ass to a library and read 30-40 books on what German society was like during WWII before making such a comparison in public again.
Those Pinkos at Viacom
by i
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 at 11:13 AM
Actually the liberal media conglomerate Viacom aired their fake Bush documents (when the strength of the odcs is that they were missing), but what they bumped were the fake documents regarding uranium from Niger, that were used as a pretext to buyout former business partner Hussein.
The GOP (of which I am a member) has a 24 hour 'news' network, which has way more viewers than PBS.
Objectivity? How about Blatant Bias
by Don Blather
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 at 12:10 PM
Oh, right, the media needs to be "objective". But that only seems to apply if the left is trying to silence the facts or any of their opposition.
Mark Halerin the editor over at ABC News sends out a memo commanding his reporters to be biased in favor of Kerry and we don't hear any outcry from the left for fairness in media or a call for investigations of the FCC license for ABC. The New York Times has an editorial saying that both Bush and Kerry lie, but Kerry's lies are acceptable and everyone should look the other way.
The American Left are the real threat to freedoms of speech and personal liberty.
Kerry=Left?
by Delta Ooopsilon Protest Warrior Dragoon
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 at 1:59 PM
The left wing of the US war party is hardly left. Kerry is another moderate Republican, like Clinton. Policy wise, Nixon was the most liberal US president since FDR.
It does not matter one bit which Skull & Bones (no conspiracy implied, it's just an outlet for rich boys to act out their homoerotic and/or necrophiliac urges with other rich boys)Yalie is chosen as the frontman for the multinationals. Unfortunately, crypto-fascists like yourself and the misguided liberals will go to great lengths to pretend there is a difference. Granted Kerry does speak English better than Bush, and will be able to conspire with Putin and Chirac to fuck over anybody they can to satisfy their sick addictions (how much can you spend in one lifetime?).
Little zionazi frat-boy, you should enlist before you get drafted or hurt playing "protest warrior".
Moore's 9/11 is ok but this isn't???
by Rachel
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 at 5:02 PM
This is America and we're allowed to see all sides of a story. Michael Moore's 9/11 was biased in its own way....
Moore's a Corporate Shill, Too
by Protest Worrier*
Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004 at 4:14 AM
What I am still trying to understand is that given that the current regieme may well be rememebered as the worst in US history, that Moore felt the need to insert fiction into his (MTV Rock the Vote deep)"documentary".
How can the madness of the Bush junta be adressed with no mention of his devotion to the evangelical death-cult?
You know the same death-cult who is pumping money into genetically engineering a red heifer for use in cleansing the temple mount?
The same Wal-mart check-out counter (Left Behind)theologians who were so blatantly overtly anti-semetic 20 years ago, but realized it needed 144,000 of the chosen people to convert, so Jay-sus could come back and the world can end. The rest of the children of Israel aren't slated to be so lucky however and will cast into a lake of fire or some other bronze age nonsense.
No mention of the brutal dictatorships propped up by the Bush crime family? No Egypt, no Israel, no Pakistan, no Uzebkistan (whose president routinely boils people alive), no mention of the century's long involvement in the global drug trade?
Not challenging his cowboy (or any of his other Village People) persona(e), which is a neat trick for a preppie New England frat-boy?
Moore made millions for the media conglomerates who he purports to be opposing.
'Stolen Honor' disinfopedia articles
by anon
Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2004 at 5:24 AM
Some detailed articles about 'Stolen Honor' at disinfopedia.org :
Carlton Sherwood page
Article on Stolen Honor - Wounds That Never Heal
Sinclair Broadcast Group article
www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Stolen_Honor:_Wounds_That_Never_Heal
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