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News :: Media |
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Sinclair Backtracks, But Not Completely |
Current rating: 0 |
by Sinclair Press Release via gehrig
Email: zemblan (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified!) |
19 Oct 2004
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Translation: "Ouch!"
Given that nearly all the SBGI stock is owned by the sons of Julian Smith, it's not impossible that the guy who's quoted below lost a third of his wealth over the last few months.
Awwwwww. |
Sinclair to Air `A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media'
BALTIMORE, Oct 19, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via Comtex/ -- Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) announced today that on Friday, October 22, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. central time) certain television stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. will air a special one-hour news program, entitled "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media." In order to minimize the interruption of normally scheduled programming in those markets where Sinclair owns and/or programs more than one television station, the news special will be broadcast on only one of those stations. A complete list of stations which will be airing the program and the times of such broadcasts is attached.
The news special will focus in part on the use of documentaries and other media to influence voting, which emerged during the 2004 political campaigns, as well as on the content of certain of these documentaries. The program will also examine the role of the media in filtering the information contained in these documentaries, allegations of media bias by media organizations that ignore or filter legitimate news and the attempts by candidates and other organizations to influence media coverage.
Contrary to numerous inaccurate political and press accounts, the Sinclair stations will not be airing the documentary "Stolen Honor" in its entirety. At no time did Sinclair ever publicly announce that it intended to do so. In fact, since the controversy began, Sinclair's website has prominently displayed the following statement: "The program has not been videotaped and the exact format of this unscripted event has not been finalized. Characterizations regarding the content are premature and are based on ill- informed sources."
While the news special will discuss the allegations surrounding Senator John Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activities in the early 1970s raised by a number of former POWs in "Stolen Honor," it will do so in the context of the broader discussion outlined above. The program will be hosted by Jeff Barnd, the Emmy award-winning co-anchor of Fox 45's 10:00 News which airs on WBFF-TV, Sinclair's flagship station in Baltimore, Maryland.
Joe DeFeo, Sinclair's Vice President of News, commented that, "As with all news programming produced by Sinclair's News Central, `A POW Story' is being produced with the highest journalistic standards and integrity. We have not ceded, and will not in the future cede, control of our news reporting to any outside organization or political group. We are endeavoring, as we do with all of our news coverage, to present both sides of the issues covered in an equal and impartial manner."
In fact, Sinclair has been in private communication with Senator Kerry's campaign, including a recent face-to-face meeting with senior campaign officials, for approximately two weeks in order to negotiate participation in the special by either Senator Kerry or his designee. Although the Kerry campaign declined to participate, Sinclair has left the invitation open and will make every effort to accommodate the Senator up to the air date for the program should he become willing to present his viewpoint for Sinclair's audience.
David Smith, CEO of Sinclair, noted that, "The experience of preparing to air this news special has been trying for many of those involved. The company and many of its executives have endured personal attacks of the vilest nature, as well as calls on our advertisers and our viewers to boycott our stations and on our shareholders to sell their stock. In addition, and more shockingly, we have received threats of retribution from a member of Senator John Kerry's campaign and have seen attempts by leading members of Congress to influence the Federal Communications Commission to stop Sinclair from broadcasting this news special. Moreover, these coordinated attacks have occurred without regard to the facts since they predated the broadcast of our news special."
Mr. Smith further stated, "We cannot in a free America yield to the misguided attempts by a small but vocal minority to influence behavior and trample on the First Amendment rights of those with whom they might not agree. I have been encouraged, however, by the thousands of e-mails and other messages I, and others, received supporting Sinclair's efforts to hold firm to its ideals in the face of a firestorm of controversy which, ironically, was actually based on misinformation. We also took comfort in the positions of other media organizations which supported our right to present this story notwithstanding any disagreement they may have with the content, as well as in the words of Michael Powell, Chairman of the FCC, who refused to block the program, noting that to do so would be 'unconstitutional' and 'an absolute disservice to the First Amendment.'"
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies, owns and operates, programs, or provides sales services to 62 television stations in 39 markets. Sinclair's television group includes FOX, WB, ABC, CBS, NBC, and UPN affiliates and reaches approximately 24% of all U.S. television households.
Market & Stations To
Air "A POW Story"
Baltimore WBFF Friday 10/22 8PM
Birmingham WTTO Friday 10/22 7PM
Buffalo WUTV Friday 10/22 8PM
Cedar Rapids KGAN Friday 10/22 7PM
Champaign, IL WICD Friday 10/22 7PM
Charleston, SC WMMP Friday 10/22 8PM
Charleston, WV WCHS Friday 10/22 8PM
Cincinnati WSTR Friday 10/22 8PM
Columbus WSYX Friday 10/22 8PM
Dayton WKEF Friday 10/22 8PM
Des Moines KDSM Friday 10/22 7PM
Flint WSMH Friday 10/22 8PM
Greensboro WXLV Friday 10/22 8PM
Greenville/Asheville WLOS Friday 10/22 8PM
Kansas City KSMO Friday 10/22 7PM
Las Vegas KVWB Friday 10/22 8PM
Lexington WDKY Friday 10/22 8PM
Madison WMSN Friday 10/22 7PM
Milwaukee WVTV Friday 10/22 7PM
Minneapolis KMWB Friday 10/22 7PM
Nashville WZTV Friday 10/22 7PM
Norfolk WTVZ Friday 10/22 8PM
Oklahoma City KOKH Friday 10/22 7PM
Paducah KBSI Friday 10/22 7PM
Pensacola/Mobile WEAR Friday 10/22 7PM
Peoria WYZZ Friday 10/22 7PM
Pittsburgh WPGH Friday 10/22 8PM
Portland WGME Friday 10/22 8PM
Raleigh WLFL Friday 10/22 8PM
Richmond WRLH Friday 10/22 8PM
Rochester WUHF Friday 10/22 8PM
Sacramento KOVR Friday 10/22 7PM
St. Louis KDNL Friday 10/22 7PM
San Antonio KABB Friday 10/22 7PM
Springfield, MA WGGB Friday 10/22 8PM
Springfield, IL WICS Friday 10/22 7PM
Syracuse WSYT Friday 10/22 8PM
Tallahassee WTWC Friday 10/22 8PM
Tampa WTTA Friday 10/22 8PM
Tri Cities WEMT Friday 10/22 8PM
SOURCE Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
Barry Faber, General Counsel, Sinclair Broadcast Group,
+1-410-568-1500
/Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/110203.htm
http://www.prnewswire.com
Copyright (C) 2004 PR Newswire. All rights reserved. |
This work is in the public domain |
Comments
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Re: Sinclair Backtracks, But Not Completely |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
19 Oct 2004
|
So -- for those who watch more television than I do, what is WICD preempting for this, Friday at 7?
@%< |
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Re: Sinclair Backtracks, But Not Completely |
by Joe Futrelle
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
20 Oct 2004
|
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"Dateline". But it's playing opposite the O'Reilly Factor, The Apprentice, CSI, and NBA pre-season basketball. I recommend the NBA game. |
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Re: Sinclair Backtracks, But Not Completely |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
20 Oct 2004
|
The stock is rebounding, apparently under the impression that things are all better now. Things are not all better now. Those of you who saw my letter in yesterday's NG should know that today I followed it up:
Dear Editor:
Since my letter announcing a boycott of companies buying ads on Sinclair's WICD appeared in your paper (10/19), I have been inundated with calls of support and requests for more information on which products and services to boycott.
A comprehensive national list is available at www.boycottsbg.com under the link, "Sinclair Advertisers."
This boycott isn't meant as an attack on the good people at WICD, who must silently do their corporate owners' bidding or face the consequences. When Jon Lieberman -- Sinclair's own Washington bureau chief -- refused to toe the Sinclair corporate line and condemned the "news" broadcast as "biased political propaganda, with clear intentions to sway this election," he was fired and escorted from the building.
Marching orders from the owners is also, incidentally, the only imaginable reason that WICD gives the flannel-headed Mark Hyman's opinions any airtime at all: he just happens to be Sinclair's Vice President for Corporate Relations. (He's apparently as bad at Corporate Relations as he is at commentary, judging from the current PR disaster.)
Yesterday afternoon -- when Sinclair stock was flirting with a ten-year low, and the four men who run Sinclair and own 90% of its stock saw their millions evaporating like so much spilled milk -- Sinclair announced that it never actually said it was going to show the anti-Kerry "documentary" in its entirety. There's a word for that: it's called a "lie." They are now repackaging the attack on Kerry to make it more indirect, but it's still essentially an hour-long attack ad, and they still intend to play it without giving equal time to Kerry to respond.
As long as local stations have not been given the opportunity to reject the "news" item, that repackaging is only a fig leaf, and the boycott will continue.
@%< |
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