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Stolen Honor: Sinclair Under Fire

Posted by michael on from the tempest-in-a-teapot dept.

worm eater writes "The Sinclair Broadcasting Group, in its latest politically charged move, has announced that it will air a 90-minute anti-Kerry documentary a week before the election. The video, 'Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal,' was funded by a group of Pennsylvania POWs that has merged with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Sinclair, which is the largest TV broadcasting group in the nation, has 62 affiliates, many in swing states. It made news in April by refusing to let any of its affiliates air an edition of Nightline in which Ted Koppel read the names of US soldiers who had died in Iraq, saying the broadcast was politically motivated. Predictably, liberal blogs are fighting back."

9 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. damn liberal media bias! by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Funny

    Damn those liberals that control the media! This is just a vast conspiracy to distort Bush's record and try to get Kerry into office by bringing up stuff that happened decades ago. Can't they let the DWI arrest and the Guard service stories die?

    Geesh. And all this time I never believed the stories about the "liberal media".

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  2. Contact the Advertisers who support Sinclair by mokiejovis · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... and tell them you're not going to be buying their products as long as they support Sinclair. Hurt Sinclair where it really stings - in the wallet.

    List of Advertisers

    Furthermore, just in case you don't think your phone call will do anything, see a little morale-booster from Kos.

  3. Remember, the standard for judging is... by Jerf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Remember, the only logical standard for judging is "If the other side did the exact same thing, how would you feel?"

    If your are pro-Kerry, but it wouldn't bother you to see a hatchet job on Bush at the same time by the same basic people, then you really have no grounds to complain.

    Flip-side, if you are Pro-Bush, but would not want to see a hatchet job on Kerry at the same time, then you should not support this.

    Personally, since I sort of fall into the latter category (I'm not 100% for Bush, but Kerry has completely failed to convince me he is better in the ways I personally care about; this is disclosure, not a request to be "corrected", OK?), my personal opinion is that this is an inappropriate action to take, and I don't care what side does it. If it was run earlier, I don't think I'd care, and there have certainly been hatchet jobs on both sides meeting this criteria, but the closer you get to the election, the more important it is for large entities to shut the hell up and leave the final voting as a matter between the candidates and the voters.

    1. Re:Remember, the standard for judging is... by Edax+Rarem · · Score: 5, Funny

      A hatchet job on Bush was already televised. I think it was called "The First Debate"

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      I hate my sig.
    2. Re:Remember, the standard for judging is... by Rupert · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's right. Sinclair is just doing this to balance all the stations that are broadcasting Fahrenheit 9/11 and Going Upriver.

      Here's a list of those stations:
      <ul></ul>

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      E_NOSIG
  4. POWs? by richie2000 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the Stolen Honor website:

    When John Kerry appeared before the U. S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the spring of 1971, his testimony sent shock waves throughout America and the world. Here was a young, articulate Ivy-Leaguer, a highly decorated Naval officer who had seen combat in Vietnam. Now, driven by conscience and lofty ideals, Lt. Kerry said he felt compelled to break his silence and tell the unvarnished truth about the Vietnam War and those who fought it.

    ...

    That single act earned for Kerry the lasting enmity of Vietnam veterans, especially those who had borne the brunt of his accusations, that small percentage of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who actually served on the frontlines. Many of these combat veterans would carry the scars of their service for life. Kerry's repudiation of their sacrifice represented yet another war wound, one that would never heal.

    POWs like John McCain? Scarred veterans like Max Cleland? Maybe the veteran William Laws Calley? For shame!

    Maybe a drunk, AWOL frat boy high on coke and Air National Guard issue oxygen could help us set the record straight here? I hear he got kidnapped by Delta Kappa Phi once and forced to drink a whole keg of Bud, I guess that makes him not only a POW, but subject of cruel and unusual punishment as well. Talk about stolen honor...

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    Money for nothing, pix for free
  5. A little dose of reality, here... by geekwench · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I've seen a few posts attacking Kerry for allegedly attempting to "curtail" and "deny" Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc.'s freedom of speech. Let me just quote what the Bill of Rights has to say about that:
    • Amendment I
      Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
    While the "freedom of the press" could possibly be stretched to cover the situation, it's still a pretty big stretch. Congress is not doing a ruddy thing to silence a large media group. A corporation. Businesses are not people, and should not be viewed as individuals. There is no proviso securing the unhampered freedom of speech for a business; it's a right guaranteed only to human beings.
    Now, if Kerry were to use his position as a senator to enact punitive bitch-slap legislation that was aimed at Sinclair, then yes; there's a clear violation. However, as it stands, what we have here is a media conglomerate throwing its corporate weight around to promote a particular political viewpoint. Period.

    So much for the "Liberal Media" meme.

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    Doing my level best to piss off the religious right wing...
  6. Indirection of Mediated Reality by 4of12 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    read the names of US soldiers who had died in Iraq, saying the broadcast was politically motivated.

    Reading the names of the fallen used to be considered an act of honoring the memory of the soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice.

    Honorable and truthful activities should be carried out regardless of whether some political faction or other thinks they can make hay from it.

    It's yet another symptom of our society where perception trumps substance. What matters is how something is perceived - not what it actually is.

    --
    "Provided by the management for your protection."
  7. Re:All I can say by The+Briguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the Swift Boat Vets haven't managed to get a single person who personally served with Kerry to say anything bad about him. The best they have managed to do is people who met him once or twice. I suggest you check out www.swiftvets.org. You'll find that even those people that only met him a few times actually have said positive things about kerry until recenty. I can only assume what Swift Vets did to get them to change thier minds.