Sinclair Broadcast
Group and the "Stolen Honor" Documentary
[October 20, 2004] On October 9, 2004 Los Angeles Times reported that Sinclair Broadcast Group planned to
require its 62 stations, including 14 in the battleground states of
Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, to preempt their regular
primetime programming one week before the
election and broadcast the film "Stolen
Honor: Wounds That Never Heal."
The film is critical of Senator John Kerry's activities following his
return from Vietnam. It was produced by Carlton Sherwood, a
Vietnam Veteran, and former television and newspaper reporter, who is
now executive vice president and director of communications of the WVC3
Group, Inc., a security firm in Northern Virginia. Sherwood
claims to be a Pulitizer Prize recipient; he was part of a Gannett team
that won the award in 1980. However, he later was forced to
resign from a Washington, DC television station; subsequently, while at
the Washington Times, he
wrote a book praising the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
Democrats mobilized against Sinclair. On October 12 the DNC
filed a complaint
with the Federal
Election Commission charging that the planned broadcast comprises an
"unlawful corporate-funded electioneering communication and corporate
in-kind contribution to the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign and the Republican
National Committee." On October 15 Kerry-Edwards 2004 General
Counsel Marc E. Elias, in a letter
to SBG President and CEO David D. Smith, cited the FCC's Zapple Doctrine, and stated, "If
Sinclair does air this program in which supporters of President Bush
attack Senator Kerry, it must provide a similar opportunity for Senator
Kerry's supporters."
A "Boycott Sinclair Broadcast
Group" website promoting an advertiser boycott quickly went up
. By October 15 it claimed "over 50 confirmed advertiser pullouts
from Sinclair, including at least one large national advertiser."
Additionally, Concerts for Change, a pro-Kerry group, launched a "StopSinclair.org" website with
an online petition to oppose the Sinclair plan. Concerts for
Change planned to deliver more than 100,000 petition signatures to the
Sinclair headquarters on October 20.
On October 19 the DNC put out a somewhat gleeful press release pointing
to an AP story indicating that Sinclair stock's value had fallen $1.32
to $6.26 since October 11 and that, "The four principal owners have
lost a combined $37.7 million in stock value." The Nader campaign even jumped into the
fray, describing Sinclair's order to its stations as "a flagrant
example of how
our democracy is being swamped by the confluence of money, politics and
concentrated media" and calling on station managers to defy the order.
In an October 19 press
release Sinclair announced the format of its news special, stating
that the controversy was "based on misinformation." Sinclair had
no plans to run "Stolen Honor" in its entirety but rather intended to
use it as part of a broader program. Further, Sinclair noted that
its invitation to Sen. Kerry or his designee to participate in
the program remained open. Smith, the company's president,
decried 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."
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