News or Views: Sinclair's "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal?"

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(PBS' Jim Lehrer's NewsHour with moderator Terence Smith interviewing Mark Hyman, vice president of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Howard Wolfson, a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee . . . interview on Tuesday, October 12, 2004)

"Democratic senators are campaigning for a federal probe into Sinclair Broadcast Group's decision to air an anti-Senator Kerry documentary two weeks before the election. Mark Hyman who is vice president of the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Inc., and Howard Wolfson who is a senior adviser to the Democratic National Committee, join Terence Smith to discuss Sinclair's decision.

"TERENCE SMITH: In an unusual move, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest independent operator of television stations in the United States, has ordered all 62 of its stations to preempt regular programming next week to air a documentary that is harshly critical of Sen. John Kerry's anti-war activities in the early 1970s.

(snip)

"The Democratic Party and 20 senators have sent letters to the Federal Communications Commission in protest. The senators' letters said in part, to allow a broadcasting company to air such a blatantly partisan attack in lieu of regular programming and to classify that attack as news programming, as has been suggested, would violate the spirit and we think the text of current law and regulation.

(snip)

"Sinclair Broadcasting stations reach 25 percent of the U.S. population. Sinclair owns affiliates of all the major broadcast networks. Many of their stations are in pivotal swing states. This is not the first time Sinclair has been accused of partisan motivations.

(snip)

"HOWARD WOLFSON: Well, Democrats have no problem with good and fair journalism, but there's no pretense to objectivity in this film. It's essentially a 90-minute political commercial masquerading as a documentary.

(snip)

MARK HYMAN: "We haven't made any final decisions on what this final product is going to look at, look like. So anyone who's complaining about the content of a product that does not yet exist is like someone complaining about a referee's call in a sporting match that hasn't even taken place yet."

overview and transcript at
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec04/sinclair_10-12.html
(as last visited Wednesday, October 13, 2004)

see also: url hyperlink for audio lead on the above PBS url

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So. Sinclair is attempting to "hide behind the law" in that Sinclair fails to define what it is that Sinclair intends to show -- what the contents of the show will be. Is it "news" (which may be considered lawful) or is it political hype, i.e., a campaign ad (which is illegal for Sinclair to do) ???????? cute. very cute. but hardly feasible! and hardly believable!


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