Spring Break
Media giant tries to shape public opinion
Clayton McCook
Issue date: 10/20/04 Section: Commentary
The Sinclair Broadcast Group owns 62 stations in 39 markets and has an audience comprised of about a quarter of the American public.
Earlier this month, this media giant announced that just before the election it will order its affiliates to air a program about Sen. John Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activism.
The so-called documentary, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," is highly critical of Kerry and includes charges that his 1971 comments about atrocities committed by American soldiers in Vietnam directly led to the further torture of U.S. prisoners of war at the hands of the North Vietnamese.
Directed by Carlton Sherwood, a former aide to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, the film includes interviews with a number of former POWs who claim that Kerry's televised Senate testimony had the effect of prolonging their captivity. Sinclair has ordered its stations to preempt an hour of regular primetime programming for the special less than two weeks before Election Day.
With a closer analysis, anyone with just a hint of olfactory function can understand that this stinks. First, and perhaps most importantly, four brothers who have donated $121,000 to Bush and the Republican Party in the past five years own Sinclair, whose stations are notorious for their right-wing stance.
For example, the company pre-empted the April "Nightline" program on which Ted Koppel read the names of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, denouncing it as "unpatriotic." What makes the airing of the anti-Kerry program so problematic is that it is being advertised as news and not opinion. In a free society we are all entitled to our views, but when such beliefs are touted as journalism and not commentary, the public is put at risk.
According to American University communications professor Jane Hall, "People in the news business are supposed to present both sides of the story. They are not supposed to have an agenda." There is no doubt that Sinclair has an agenda, and that agenda includes ensuring Bush's re-election.
Earlier this month, this media giant announced that just before the election it will order its affiliates to air a program about Sen. John Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activism.
The so-called documentary, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," is highly critical of Kerry and includes charges that his 1971 comments about atrocities committed by American soldiers in Vietnam directly led to the further torture of U.S. prisoners of war at the hands of the North Vietnamese.
Directed by Carlton Sherwood, a former aide to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, the film includes interviews with a number of former POWs who claim that Kerry's televised Senate testimony had the effect of prolonging their captivity. Sinclair has ordered its stations to preempt an hour of regular primetime programming for the special less than two weeks before Election Day.
With a closer analysis, anyone with just a hint of olfactory function can understand that this stinks. First, and perhaps most importantly, four brothers who have donated $121,000 to Bush and the Republican Party in the past five years own Sinclair, whose stations are notorious for their right-wing stance.
For example, the company pre-empted the April "Nightline" program on which Ted Koppel read the names of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, denouncing it as "unpatriotic." What makes the airing of the anti-Kerry program so problematic is that it is being advertised as news and not opinion. In a free society we are all entitled to our views, but when such beliefs are touted as journalism and not commentary, the public is put at risk.
According to American University communications professor Jane Hall, "People in the news business are supposed to present both sides of the story. They are not supposed to have an agenda." There is no doubt that Sinclair has an agenda, and that agenda includes ensuring Bush's re-election.