Sinclair employee decries planned program on Kerry (DC Bureau Chief)

[VolcanoJen]

Hey DUers.. time to fire up our email and show Jon Lieberman our thanks for his comments!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/elections/bal-te.sinclair18oct18,1,1814607.story

Excerpt:

The Washington bureau chief for Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group's news division angrily denounced his employer last night for plans to air an hourlong program that is to include incendiary allegations against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for his anti-war activism three decades ago.

"It's biased political propaganda, with clear intentions to sway this election," said Jon Leiberman, Sinclair's lead political reporter for more than a year. "For me, it's not about right or left -- it's about what's right or wrong in news coverage this close to an election."

Repeated efforts to reach Sinclair officials for comment last night proved unsuccessful.

<snip>

Leiberman spoke out yesterday after a mandatory staff meeting attended by Sinclair's corporate news division at company headquarters in Hunt Valley.

"I have nothing to gain here -- and really, I have a lot to lose," Leiberman said. "At the end of the day, though, all you really have is your credibility."

[Tropez]

1. Have an email address? That URL take a login.

[VolcanoJen]

2. Still searching for Jon Lieberman's email addy...

... maybe intrepid DUers could help?

Sorry about the Baltimore Sun's login requirements. :-(

[Kierkegaard]

3. Use bugmenot

http://www.bugmenot.com/view.php?url=baltimoresun.com

[jdj]

18. you do not know

how grateful I am to now have this website.

I HATE registration.

Thanks so much.

[Kierkegaard]

25. No problem.

Pass it around. Seems like I post that link here several times a week.

[TrueAmerican]

4. I hope he has his resume ready

I think he's going to need it, soon.

[ugarte]

5. Yep, he's gone

Telling the truth is a no-no.

[VolcanoJen]

6. Jon Lieberman was advised by his VP-News that he could be fired.

From the article:

Leiberman said he was anguished by his decision to speak out. But, he said, the influence of commentator Mark Hyman and Chief Executive David D. Smith has been devastating. "There is going to be a concerted effort on the part of my colleagues to make this as balanced a program as they can," Leiberman said. "But the selection of the material -- dumping it on the news department, and giving them four days, and running it this close to the election -- it's indefensible, in my opinion."

Leiberman said he told Sinclair's vice president for news, Joseph DeFeo, that he would not contribute to the program and that DeFeo suggested the reporter could lose his job.

[autorank]

7. He should apply at Gore's new cable network! This guy is great!

[progressivebydesign]

8. Dignity before personal gain... I LOVE Jon Lieberman !!!

It's heartening to see people like him, people like the editorial board of the Lone Star Iconoclast in Crawford, like the advertisers pulling ads from Sinclair, like the military people speaking out against Bush. It's heartening to see those that put dignity and the greater good before their own personal gain. :grouphug:

[havocmom]

9. Mr. Lieberman is correct: "...all you really have is your credibility."

The media whores just don't get it: You are NOTHING, NOTHING without credibility and integrity! They can take anything and everything else away from you so you best be careful when you sell that which only you can destroy: credibility & integrity. Whatever price you get for that barter will never be enough. In the long run, they will just take back that coin you accepted for that which is irreplaceable to you.

Mr. Lieberman, and I feel safe in assuming he reads DU, we thank you for reminding us all that there are more important issues than kissing the hind ends of vile partisans to keep your job.

Thank you so very much. Many of us were afraid your breed had become extinct.

[jdj]

19. He's worked for them for a while.

So it's about time he got a conscience, I guess. This may be strategy on his part since they are gonna depose Bill O'Reilly, and all the women he's harassed (and Al Franken) are soon gonna be fired/killed by Roger Ailes. There may be a glut of openings for reporters in the next few months.

[VegasWolf]

10. LBN: Lieberman found floating in the Potomac! n/t

[pinkpops]

11. Here's a link with some biographical info

http://www.jewishtimes.com/scripts/edition.pl?now=9/1/01&stay=1&SubSectionID=30&ID=1856

[pacalo]

12. Here's more about Jon Leiberman, which includes his e-mail address:

http://www.newscentral.tv/station/bios/jleiberman.shtml

[high density]

17. I doubt he'll get that mail

He has already been fired.

[wishlist]

13. The anti-Kerry film must be very vile and vicious for Leiberman to do this

Jon Leiberman has promoted their pro-Bush agenda in more of a sneaky stealth manner rather than blatantly hitting viewers over the head. He simply leaves out things that are favorable to Kerry and leaves out things that are negative for Bush in his segments that I have seen on my Sinclair TV station. For instance, after the third debate when he had a truth segment he brought up Bush's charge of Kerry exaggerating but left out the fact that Bush had actually said what Kerry accused him of saying about not being concerned about Bin Laden and instead Leiberman nitpicked about factual errors in Kerry's answers.

This guy is no friend of Dems since he preferred a more subtle but equally deliberate method of swaying viewer opinion rather than such blatant propaganda represented by the Stolen Honor film.

[lforbus]

14. Just heard on Anderson Cooper

He's fired

[TacticalPeek]

15. Heard that.

He was "let go' because of his remarks.

"Just in", no link that I have found yet.

I think Sinclair is enhancing the depth of the hole they're in.

[progressivebydesign]

16. He'd make an excellent guest on a variety of shows...

Hmmm. Daily Show comes to mind.

[jdj]

20. Damn, I think they get about 10,000 an appearance on some of

these shows.

He's takin it to the bank.

[Logansquare]

21. He's a smart guy career-wise

He knows that this sorry company is going down, and he's not interested in getting any of their slime on him. I believe he's doing this both from ethical concerns and from a realization that he'll need a new job soon, anyway.

[Senator Lamb]

22. well well welll

and to think you guys always insult Joe Lieberman. lol

[NastyRiffraff]

23. Not even related :P

They spell their names differently.

BTW, you can also send Sinclair your comments here. (on left side of the page, down a bit)

[wishlist]

24. He minced no words with Paula Zahn that it is pure propaganda, not news

I applaud him for speaking out publicly and standing up against Sinclair's attempt to totally corrupt journalistic standards. He said he could not sleep at night if he had gone along with Sinclair's wrong decision to air this propaganda so close to the election. He was absolutely clear that this one-sided film is being aired to sway the election because the person who made the decision is the person also in charge of editorial policy there (I assume he meant Mark Hyman) who is very anti-Kerry and has had a series of anti-Kerry editorials and is not a journalist.

Jon says that if Sinclair wanted to show this film, they should have presented it as an editorial or special program, not as news and not without giving Kerry equal time. Says there is no way for anyone to verify the accuracy of what is presented in the film. He pointed out that Sinclair has never before devoted an entire news program to any other subjects such as Iraq or the debates.

Sinclair's Mark Hyman issued a statement calling him a disgruntled employee whose political views caused him to violate company policy and talk publicly about internal business. Leiberman said he has never before been a disgruntled employee and has a good record there and has never been partisan but tries to go down the middle.

[southlandshari]

26. Sinclair has FIRED Leiberman for these comments...

sorry if this has already been posted. It is the top story on today's Common Dreams (commondreams.org) website:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1019-06.htm