We all know that tonight's Sinclair propaganda-electioneering special is going to be an unmitigated hatchet job against John Kerry and the "liberal media." Sinclair will play the role of victim to the hilt, without any media voice pointing out the obvious fact that Sinclair is the perpetrator, not the victim, in that it intends to use the public's airwaves to force a $9 million illegal Bush campaign contribution down the public's throat, at its own expense. It will also play the most inflammatory allegations in the film, without any honest "fact-checking" whatsoever.
Jay Rosen of NYU's School of Journalism has a preview:
"A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media" is the special that will run Friday night. Here is my prediction for what the program will contain. You can check it against the actual broadcast tomorrow night, and we'll see how close I was. (I will have to rely on those within reach of a Sinclair station.)
Some 10-12 minutes of Stolen Honor featuring the most sensational and gut-wrenching testimony from former POW's and the most clearly stated charges.
The filmmaker will be asked some questions.
A review of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and their attempt to interest the news media in their story, which was rejected, leading to the ad campaign and then a media frenzy to discredit the group, which didn't work but did reveal incredible bias.
A look at Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11 and the way the media ate it up.
Cursory examination of other political documentaries.
These brave men, the former POW's, who finally spoke up, took their story to NBC, CNN, ABC and the like and were turned away.
Sinclair had to step in. We could not allow them to be silenced by a biased media system.
We believe their charges should be answered by Senator Kerry; that's why we invited him to appear on this program. We offered every concession, but he refused. We regret that.
Which brings us to our panel discussion tonight: media bias: can it be stopped? media coverage: what really drives it? documentaries: are they propaganda or information?
There will be guests but they will be second-rate.
Some way or another, Sinclair will be portrayed as the victim.
The program will be an attack, an anti-Kerry rant with some subtlety and just enough "issue" in it to deflect charges of airing propaganda. To accusations of bias, Sinclair's reply is pre-ordained: our program corrects for mainstream media bias in suppressing the POWs' claims, which Sinclair will call new and newsworthy.