The Sinclair Broadcast Group owns 8 ABC stations. Friday night on Nightline, Ted Koppell will be reading a list of names of American soldiers who have been killed in Iraq. Sinclair Broadcast Group has decided that since they view the show as "politically-motivated", they see that it is in the best-interest of their viewers NOT to broadcast the Friday edition of Nightline. Yes, folks, fascism lives and breathes in America...and it is getting even worse. We MUST stop these fascists!

Link to Fascist Broadcasters

[ April 30, 2004, 11:35 AM: Message edited by: bobby78751 ]

This is the e-mail I wrote to SBGI (the company president's e-mail wasn't available):


(Please forward this e-mail to your company president.)

Dear SBGI President,

I read your attempted explaination for your reasoning not to broadcast ABC's Nightline "The Fallen" special set to air on Friday night on your 8 ABC stations. However, your attempt to justify your reason fails on this one reason: Freedom. You, as a media outlet, are denying your viewers and those families of dead soldiers in your markets the opportunity to share in this tribute. You should be ashamed of your actions and the lousy justifications you offer. While I do not agree with the actions of the president of my country, the irony in this situation is this: soldiers have died in this war where freedom is supposedly taking shape while you fascists take away your viewers' freedom to either watch the show or not to watch the show. You say Nightline has a political-motivation, well, by golly, thank you for standing up and proving you don't any political motivation whatsoever. Thank God I don't live in one of the unfortunate cities you control with an iron fist...I have my freedom to see the show or not to see the show. Sorry to say many of your viewers don't have this freedom. Thank you for reading my message.

Sincerely,
Bobby F-----
Austin, Texas

Wow, Senator John McCain is right on it!!

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) issued the
following letter today to Mr. David Smith, President and CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, in response to the preemption of this evening's Nightline program:
McCain Letter

CNN says, "According to campaign finance records, four of Sinclair's top executives each have given the maximum campaign contribution of $2,000 to the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. The executives have not given any donations to the campaign of Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, the records showed." No, this isn't political on their part at all. Damn fascist pigs!

CNN Story

Here's my email to them. Short and sweet.


Dear Sinclair Broadcast Group,

I would like to voice my opinion against your pre-emption of the ABC Nightline program scheduled for April 30, 2004. Please reconsider your choice to censor the reading of names and imagines of our fallen soldiers. We are a proud nation and we need to be able to see our men and women that gave their lives to fight in a war far away from home. The families and friends of these soldiers deserve to be included in the viewing of this program. By pre-empting only the markets that are served by the Sinclair Broadcast Group you are only censoring their viewership and I am sure that will leave a very bad taste in a lot of people's mouths and alienate them from the remainder of the news market.

Please reconsider your choice. Please do so for the soldiers that will never come back home alive. Please do so for the families that have lost their sons and daughters.

Thank you,

[ April 30, 2004, 10:46 AM: Message edited by: gadbearr ]

I'm glad McCain has spoken out about this.

What I found ironic about this controversy is another news outlet has essentially done the same thing ABC's Nightline did on their program with no controversy whatsoever.

Once every 2 to 3 weeks, CBS's The Early Show produces a segment of the servicemen and women who have died in this conflict. Occasionally, the local CBS affiliate of the fallen individual provides videos of their funeral (of relatives who allow cameras) and interviews with their loved ones. It has always been a very somber and powerful segment of the program.

In my opinion, I never found the segment to be propaganda. Seeing a face, their name, their age and their branch of service keeps this frustrating situation real and human.

The short-sightedness of this company and their edict concerns me. Several years ago, the FCC started to deregulate various rules. Specifically, how many stations can a company actually own in the U.S. Sadly, this controversy is one of the results of deregulation.

[ May 01, 2004, 06:38 PM: Message edited by: gmjambear ]

The problem with both Sinclair and the conservative pundits who have backed their decision is the unprecedented levels of cynicism this decision required. First they had to decide that a tribute show was thinly covered propaganda trick to make the administration look bad because it highlighted the problems of going to war. Then they had to decide that their viewers were too stupid to experience the show and not be moved to anger over the deaths. I've been against this war from the beginning. I firmly believe regime change begins at home. However, in ever way I could possibly think of this show, I never conceived of it as an idictment of the war itself or by extension the administration. In war soldiers die. If the war is justified, then those deaths are tragic, but justified. If the war is not justified, the deaths are just tragic. Having names read in tribute to the fallen, says nothing about the justification of the war. It doesn't even comment on whether the war is being handled properly without the context of whether it should be happening at all. The only pupose I can see served by reading those names is a tribute to the memory of soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice when called upon by their country.

NewsNight with Aaron Brown on CNN does a segment almost every night where dead soldiers' names, hometowns, and military classification are listed. I always find myself stopping whatever I am doing to read the list.

I am very proud of ABC and Ted "I support this war" Koppel for sticking with their plan and following thru with the special and, also, the decision to name all of the soldiers who have died in W's war and not just the ones who died in combat. However, I did find the commercials for "The Full Monty" touring production to be a terrible distraction on such a somber night.

There are quite a few courthouses and college campuses across this country with memorials listing the names of county residents or students who went off to war never to return.

Wonder what Sinclair's position is on them.

if it was a commercial for the touring company of "The Full MOnty" coming to your city, that was not an ABC decision. That would be ad time sold by your local ABC affiliate.

I know that...I just think it was inappropriate.

It would appear that Fox News has the answer. They'll be telling everyone all the good news to come out of Iraq. And after those five minutes. I suppose the air will simply go dead rather than embarrass our administration with the truth.

From the Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com)

CONSERVATIVE TV GROUP TO AIR ANTI-KERRY FILM

"The conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcasting Group, whose television outlets reach nearly a quarter of the nation's homes with TV, is ordering its stations to preempt regular programming just days before the November 2 election to air a film that attacks Sen. John Kerry's activism against the Vietnam War, network and station executives familiar with the plan said Friday."

The article reports that the film, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," produced by former Washington Times reporter Carlton Sherwood, will air between October 21 and 24, depending on the city. It features former POWs accusing Kerry of worsening their ordeal by his actions when he returned from Vietnam.

The Sinclair Group owns 62 stations with 14 in the swing states of Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The stations, affiliates of the three major networks in addition to Fox, UPN, and the WB, will have to preempt regularly-secheduled programs for the hour broadcast. Sinclair plans on following the film with a panel discussion, to which they plan on inviting Kerry, in an attempt to satisfy the fairness regulations. At the time of publication, the Kerry camp had not received an invitation to appear.

Interesting to note that, in 2004, the Sinclair Group has given approximately $68,000 in political contributions, with 97% going to Republicans.

Whatever happened to that old bogeyman, the liberal media??

~Adam

In a truly open and just society they would be digging their own grave. Voters would see through such a tactic and the tide would turn against their goals simply because of the shallow dishonesty of the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth". The question is whether we live in such a society. If not, then we shouldn't blame them, we should blame ourself.

ummmmmmm,

Weren't you the same folks who were soooo soooo sooooo excited to have fat boy's film on before the election? We ALL know he just made his shit up as he went along.

Looks like M&M's fan$ may get their wish:Don't Rue Pay-Per-View!

If the Swifties air their film, at least we'll have a choice, even if one of them comes with a price.

Adam, Halloween's coming and it looks like that liberal media is still spookin' us: The old \"Red Network\" lives up to its name

Philly fan, whats up with the fat comments?
Reminds me of your rant about the dixie chicks....

Philly, can you figure out that you had to PAY money yourself to go see Michael Moore's film. That's a lot different than forcing channels to put on a film that everyone will get, even if they don't want it. If you can't see the difference, I don't know what to say.

Here is the link to sign the petition for Sinclair not to show the Kerry propaganda piece.

StopSinclair

Link:

CONSERVATIVE TV GROUP TO AIR ANTI-KERRY FILM

M&M is a big fat piece of garbage. That is why.

Isnt this simple folks, if you dont like M&M, dont go to his movie, dont get the pay per view.

If you dont want to see lurch badly, dont watch.

If you want to see W in a bad light, simply turn on the CBS news, CNN, ABC or NBC...

And if you want to go thru the looking glass, just turn on Faux News.

Here is a database of all Sinclair Broadcasting advertisers for each market and national. There is a drop down window if you would like to check your local market.

Sinclair Broadcasting Ads

Gadbear, Thanks for the info; I'm making out my shopping list now. Some of those stores are having pretty good sales!

Now, how about listing all the Sinclair affiliates so I can make sure all my friends and relatives tune in and don't miss the big show?

Read Salon.com's report on the wackos who run Sinclair Broadcasting and are forcing its affiliate stations to air partisan propaganda. (If you're not a Salon subscriber, use the "Free Pass".)

If you live in AL, FL, MD, NC, SC, VA or WV, file a challenge to Sinclair's FCC license renewal. If you live in another state, file a comment online with the FCC.

Well you knew it was bound to happen. The chief Washington correspondent for Sinclair spoke out against the documentary, saying it clearly violated journalistic/media standards and.......he got fired.

The best line from Sinclair is: ...we are disappointed that Jon's political views caused him to violate company policy...

Employee Fired

The little-known 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not disagree with supervisors or the president of the united states.

I watched this guy on Paula Zahn and he was quite clear about why he spoke out. Sinclair Broadcasting is trying to air this piece of fiction in full violation of fcc standards and practices (any that are left.) His beef is that they want to call it news. Good for him for being honest and maintaining some level of journalistic standards. Michael Moore's film is not the gospel truth either, and I wouldn't support it being aired on non-pay TV just before the election.
We're clearly at a crossroads in our political history. The debacle in Florida, where the Republican machine clearly stole the election, started this unprecedented level of cynicism. We think they're, they think we're wrong. When do we find some common ground?
This guy deserves nothing but credit for standing up to the right-wing machine.

I'd love to just see some network pick up Fahrenheit 9/11 and air it before the election. Then we'll see how the Republicans really think about this issue. I'm sure they'd say it's fair as long as George has a time for response!

I doubt many Republicans would argue for a fair response since the "fairness doctrine" was ended under President Reagan. If a network wants to air F911 for free, I'll gladly watch it - and hope I enjoy it as much as I have "Roger" and some of M&M's earlier stuff. But I'll never pay to see his agitprop and I think the free networks have determined it's not in their best interests to air this film now, regardless of its kudos overseas.

I guess Sinclair has given in.....to a degree.

Their stockholder spoke up and it sounds like most of the controversial stuff is going to be taken out of the film. I was a little confused at what they were going to show, but it sounded more like an actual documentary now, and not necessarily concentrated on Kerry.