Update [2004-10-12 1:12:19 by Hunter]: Information about this case is coming fast and furious from diary authors. If you have a related diary that you'd like to direct people to, please link to it in the comments below. Let's make a one-stop resource for Sinclair information.
With the attention being paid to the Sinclair Group, and their executive decision to oblige all of their affiliated stations to carry, in the days before the election, an extended SBVFT-inspired "documentary" explicitly created to brand John Kerry an actual traitor to U.S. veterans and interests for speaking out against the Vietnam war, thirty years ago, some background is in order.
Specifically, who are these people?
The Death of Local News
By Paul Schmelzer, AlterNet. Posted April 23, 2003.
Tune into the evening news on Madison, Wisconsin's Fox TV affiliate and behold the future of local news. In the program's concluding segment, "The Point," Mark Hyman rants against peace activists ("wack-jobs"), the French ("cheese-eating surrender monkeys"), progressives ("loony left") and the so-called liberal media, usually referred to as the "hate-America crowd" or the "Axis of Drivel." Colorful, if creatively anemic, this is TV's version of talk radio, with the precisely tanned Hyman playing a second-string Limbaugh.
...
Like many a media empire, Sinclair grew through a combination of acquisitions, clever manipulations of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules, and considerable lobbying campaigns. Starting out as a single UHF station in Baltimore in 1971, the company started its frenzied expansion in 1991 when it began using "local marketing agreements" as a way to circumvent FCC rules that bar a company from controlling two stations in a single market. These "LMAs" allow Sinclair to buy one station outright and control another by acquiring not its license but its assets. Today, Sinclair touts itself as "the nation's largest commercial television broadcasting company not owned by a network." You've probably never heard of them because the 62 stations they run -- garnering 24 percent of the national TV audience -- fly the flags of the networks they broadcast: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and the WB.
TV Barn's Mark Jeffries calls Sinclair the "Clear Channel of local news," a reference to the San Antonio, Texas, media giant that has grown from 40 to more than 1,200 stations today thanks to the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which relaxed radio ownership rules. But the parallels extend beyond their growth strategies. Jeffries describes Sinclair as having a "fiercely right-wing approach that makes Fox News Channel look like a model of objectivity," while Clear Channel is best known for sponsoring pro-war "Rallies for America" during the Iraq conflict. And like Clear Channel's CEO L. Lowry Mays -- a major Republican donor and onetime business associate of George W. Bush -- the Sinclair family, board, and executives ply the GOP with big money. Since 1997, they have donated well over $200,000 to Republican candidates.
Sinclair's news department also takes a page out of Clear Channel's book of non-localized programming. According to Sinclair's website, NewsCentral is a "revolutionary news model" that introduces "local news in programming in markets that otherwise could not support news." Begun in 2002, it's being tested in five not-so-small markets: Minneapolis, Flint (MI), Oklahoma City (OK), Raleigh (NC), and Rochester (NY). (Hyman's segment, "The Point," however, is aired on all 62 of its stations.) In these five cities, the hour-long newscast combines local broadcasting with prepackaged news. To maintain the appearance of local news, the Baltimore on-air staff is coached on the intricacies of correct local pronunciations. Or the weatherman, safely removed from the thunderstorms in, say, Minneapolis, will often engage in scripted banter with the local anchor to maintain the pretense: "Should I bring an umbrella tomorrow, Don?" "You bet, Hal, it looks pretty ugly out there..."
Though a public company, the family of founder Julian Sinclair Smith controls approximately 95% of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Smith's four sons, each on the Board of Directors of the company, are:
- David D. Smith. Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer
- Frederick G. Smith, Vice President
- J. Duncan Smith, Vice President and Secretary
- Robert E. Smith, Director
To say that the Smith family, and David D. Smith in particular, are hard-right conservatives is perhaps putting it mildly. The
Center for American Progress provides an excellent summary of past Sinclair activity:
Tonight, ABC's "Nightline" will pay tribute to U.S. troops killed in Iraq by airing a 40 minute special - the names of the fallen will be read by anchor Ted Koppel as their photographs appear on screen. But Sinclair Broadcast Group - the country's largest owner of TV stations - will not allow its ABC affiliates to air the show. In a statement, Sinclair claims the special
"appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq." While Sinclair claims it is pre-empting Nightline because it is an attempt to
"influence public opinion," the record shows that Sinclair media has repeatedly leveraged its control over the airwaves to manipulate public opinion in favor of President Bush's right-wing agenda.
SINCLAIR REQUIRES JOURNALISTS TO READ PRO-BUSH STATEMENTS: In September 2001, Sinclair Broadcasting required its affiliates to air messages "conveying full support" for the Bush administration. At a Baltimore affiliate, WBFF "officials required news and sports anchors, even a weather forecaster, to read the messages, "which included statements such as "[the station] wants you to know that we stand 100% behind our President." Several WBFF staffers objected on the grounds that reading the statements would "erode their reputations as objective journalists" because it made them appear to be "endorsing specific government actions."
SINCLAIR REFUSES TO AIR AD HIGHLIGHTING 2003 BUSH ERROR: In July 2003, Sinclair Broadcasting refused to allow WMSN TV - its FOX affiliate in Madison, WI - to air a DNC advertisement that featured a clip of President Bush making the false claim "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" in his 2003 State of the Union Address. Three other Madison stations, including ABC, NBC and CBS, readily agreed to air the ad. The Madison CBS affiliate, WISC, said the advertisement was "no worse than any other political ad."
SINCLAIR PRODUCES CENTRALIZED RIGHT-WING CONTENT FOR 'LOCAL STATIONS': In a controversial business practice, Sinclair Broadcasting has fired much of the staff for the local affiliates it owns, instead producing content for its local stations from a central facility outside Baltimore which it then airs on "local" news broadcasts. The centralized content features nightly commentary by Sinclair corporate communications chief Mark Hyman. Hyman regularly refers to the French as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys," the so-called liberal media as the "hate-America crowd," and progressives as "the lonely left" On one recent commentary, Hyman called members of Congress who voted against a recent resolution affirming the righteousness of the Iraq war "unpatriotic politicians who hate our military." You can see all of Hyman's commentaries this month HERE. (Read more from American Progress about the problems of media consolidation.)
SINCLAIR AIRS FAKE NEWS BROADCASTS PRODUCED BY BUSH ADMINISTRATION: In March, it was discovered that the Bush Administration was producing "television news stories, written and paid for by the government, which have the appearance of legitimate news segments delivered by independent reporters," and distributing them to local newscasts as a way of promoting administration policies - including its ill-conceived Medicare prescription drug law. On the broadcasts, a public relations professional named Karen Ryan pretended to be a reporter. Among the stations which aired the administration propaganda as news: WPGH in Pittsburgh "the Sinclair Broadcasting station that fired much of its news staff in favor of feeds from a centralized newsroom in Baltimore."
SINCLAIR EXECUTIVES MAJOR BUSH CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS: Sinclair executives have contributed more than $16,500 to President Bush since 2000. This year, Sinclair CEO David Smith gave President Bush the maximum $2000 contribution. Before soft money contributions became illegal, Sinclair Broadcasting gave more than $130,000 to the president's political allies but no money to his opponents.
MediaChannel.org provides more information.
Of the top twenty TV and Radio companies to make political contributions in 2004, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, is among the most conservative, giving 98 percent of its $65,434 in political contributions to GOP candidates.
By comparison, Clear Channel Communications, the conservative radio colossus run by longtime Bush cronies Tom and Steve Hicks, has given only 75 percent of its 2004 contributions to Republicans; Democratic candidates have received the remaining 25 percent of Clear Channel's political largesse.
MediaChannel.org reports another interesting tidbit, as well. Sinclair Broadcasting was, as of April, having a very good year:
The broadcasting giant reported first quarter preliminary results for net broadcast revenues reached $158.3 million. The Q1 increase over last year -- about $4 million more than the company expected -- came in part from $1.3 million in additional political advertising revenues in key election states such as Ohio, Florida, West Virginia, Illinois and Maine, where Sinclair owns stations.
For CEO David Smith, No Qualms, and No Retreat
If you are not specifically concerned about the impact of media consolidation, the Sinclair Broadcasting Group probably first entered your consciousness through their decision to block all owned stations from airing an ABC Nightline program that read the names, and showed the pictures of, all U.S. troops killed in Iraq as of that moment in time. Sinclair justified the decision via a statement that the Nightline broadcast "appears to be motivated by a political agenda." The decision was blasted roundly by Republican Senator John McCain in a public letter to Sinclair, which concluded:
... There is no valid reason for Sinclair to shirk its responsibility in what I assume is a very misguided attempt to prevent your viewers from completely appreciating the extraordinary sacrifices made on their behalf by Americans serving in Iraq. War is an awful, but sometimes necessary business. Your decision to deny your viewers an opportunity to be reminded of war's terrible costs, in all their heartbreaking detail, is a gross disservice to the public, and to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. It is, in short, sir, unpatriotic. I hope it meets with the public opprobrium it most certainly deserves.
Sinclair CEO Smith answered with his own public letter, in which he asserted forcefully:
"Nightline" is not reporting news; it is doing nothing more than making a political statement.
Smith's letter is notable for another reason, however. Just as in the current controversy, in which Sinclair "invites" Sen. Kerry to be part of a "discussion" after the film is aired, Sinclair previously "invited" both Ted Koppel and John McCain to be part of the counterprogramming that would play, on Sinclair stations, in place of the Nightline broadcast. Needless to say, both men refused.
The Washington Post pointed out, almost snarkily, the odd cowardice displayed by Sinclair at the time:
Sinclair has been doing its own reporting on Iraq for its 62 stations. In February, when the company sent Washington bureau chief Jon Leiberman and its "editorialist" Mark Hyman to Iraq, the Baltimore Sun reported that the men described their job as to cover "the positive 'untold stories' that the 'liberal media' don't recount during constant coverage of the attacks against U.S.-led forces and simmering political unease during the occupation of Iraq."
[Sinclair Vice President and General Counsil Barry] Faber told The TV Column yesterday that "our view was that the mainstream media focuses such a large percentage of their coverage of the U.S. efforts in Iraq on two things: one, the deaths of U.S. military members, and two, on Iraqis who are opposed to our presence in Iraq. We don't believe they're telling the whole story," he said, "so we sent people over there. We found, according to our reports, that the overwhelming majority are thrilled the U.S. is there after suffering years of oppression, and they are worried about what some radicals would do if we left."
In an interesting standoff, Sinclair yesterday tried to get an interview with Koppel for a program it has produced about its decision to pull "Nightline." It plans to air the show on its ABC stations tonight in the "Nightline" slot. Sinclair was turned down because, ABC News told The TV Column, Koppel would be airing against Koppel.
Meanwhile, ABC News's "Good Morning America" tried to book Sinclair's Hyman to discuss the controversy for this morning's telecast. Faber said Sinclair agreed, but only if the interview was live. "GMA" wanted to tape it, which, Faber noted, would give it the opportunity to edit the interview, so Sinclair turned ABC News down.
Sinclair will happily invite anyone who disagrees with them onto their stations for an interview. It would appear that even their chief "editorialist", however, who bravely reported pro-Bush stories from Iraq, will not sit for an interview on other programs unless he can be assured his interview will not be "edited."
The Bottom Line
It would appear, then, that providing "counterprogramming" specifically endorsing the Bush administration and campaign, then inviting objectors to sit down and become part of that counterprogramming, is not a new idea for Sinclair.
More ironically, it was Sinclair that objected -- and pre-empted -- the Nightline report of war dead on the assertion that, to quote David G. Smith himself:
"Nightline" is not reporting news; it is doing nothing more than making a political statement.
And yet now, a few months later and in the same election cycle, Sinclair is now claiming that a "documentary" promoting the notion that John Kerry, through his actions thirty years ago, does qualify as news, and not a political statement.
And is the anti-Kerry piece news, or a political advertisement? From a reader note at Talking Points Memo, a September 29th press release on the 'Stolen Honor' site:
WASHINGTON, DC (9/29/2004) -
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a non-partisan, non-profit group representing more than 250 Swift Boat veterans who served with Senator John Kerry in Vietnam, announced today they are joining forces with a group of American prisoners of war who were held captive by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. The merger coincides with a new $1.4 million television ad campaign released by the new group Swift Vets and POWs For Truth.
"We welcome the POWs to this battle on behalf of truth, the real truth of who John Kerry is and how he betrayed his fellow veterans. His visits to Paris to meet with the enemy - and his subsequent public endorsement of their so-called 'peace plan' - only served to encourage our enemies and prolong the captivity of our POWs," said Admiral Roy Hoffmann, founder of Swift Vets and POWs for Truth.
...
Swift Vets and POWs For Truth now has over 63,000 online financial contributors to their campaign to get the truth out about John Kerry.
The POWs also released a new 40 minute documentary titled Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal, produced by Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award winning journalist Carlton Sherwood. The documentary features interviews with many POWs, as well as some of their wives, and details how Kerry's activities actually further endangered the lives of the POWs. This documentary gives it to you straight from the mouths of the POWs and their wives themselves.
Emphasis there, folks. It isn't just rehashing the SBVFT ads. It is an ad produced and promoted by the same now-merged organization.
It's an ad. And it's appearing for free, in spite of what Sinclair shareholders and investors may have to say about it, because David D. Smith and his Board of Directors has mandated it.
A last update, from the New York Times:
Up to 62 television stations owned or managed by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group - many of them in swing states - will show a documentary highly critical of Senator John Kerry's antiwar activities 30 years ago within the next two weeks, Sinclair officials said yesterday.
Those officials said the documentary would pre-empt regular night programming, including prime time, on its stations, which include affiliates for all six of the major broadcast networks in the swing states of Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
Called "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," the documentary features Vietnam veterans who say their Vietnamese captors used Mr. Kerry's 1971 Senate testimony, in which he recounted stories of American atrocities, prolonging their torture and betraying and demoralizing them. Similar claims were made by prisoners of war in a commercial that ran during the summer from an anti-Kerry veterans group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Two of the former prisoners who appeared in the Swift Boat advertisement were interviewed for the movie, including Ken Cordier, who had to resign as a volunteer in the Bush campaign after the advertisement came out.
Sinclair's plan to show the documentary was first made public by The Los Angeles Times on Saturday.
Mark Hyman, Sinclair's vice president for corporate relations, who doubles as a conservative commentator on its news stations, said the film would be shown because Sinclair deemed it newsworthy.
"Clearly John Kerry has made his Vietnam service the foundation of his presidential run; this is an issue that is certainly topical," he said. Asked what defined something as newsworthy, Mr. Hyman said, "In that it hasn't been out in the marketplace, and the news marketplace."
Because Sinclair is defining the documentary - which will run commercial free - as news, it is unclear if it will be required by federal regulations to provide Mr. Kerry's campaign with equal time to respond.
But acknowledging that news standards call for fairness, Mr. Hyman said an invitation has been extended to Mr. Kerry to respond after the documentary is shown. "There are certainly serious allegations that are leveled; we would very much like to get his response," he said.
Asked if Sinclair would consider running a documentary of similar length either lauding Mr. Kerry, responding to the charges in "Stolen Honor" or criticizing Mr. Bush, Mr. Hyman said, "We'd just have to take a look at it."
Aides to Mr. Kerry said he would not accept Sinclair's invitation.
...
"Stolen Honor" was produced by Carlton Sherwood, formerly a reporter with The Washington Times. His Web site says he received no money from any political party or campaign but got initial funding from Pennsylvania veterans.
The documentary has been distributed by mail order and via streaming Internet connections. Mr. Hyman said Sinclair was not paying for the right to broadcast it.
David G. Smith. Right-wing millionaire. Gets blowjobs from hookers in his car. Willing to forgo millions of dollars of corporate revenue for the company he controls in order to run a commercial-free hit piece on a presidential candidate he doesn't like.
Mad yet?