The nationwide boycott in 2004 of Sinclair Broadcasting, carried out largely by the DailyKos community, was to date the single greatest display of netroots activism I have ever seen. It was the event that made me believe in the power of the internet to directly challenge the national media narrative. Those of you who were there will remember. Those of you who weren't should conduct a search in the dKos archives for "Sinclair Broadcasting boycott."
It was a stunning event. Just before the 2004 election, Sinclair planned to force its affiliates nationwide to broadcast an hour-long, commercial-free anti-Kerry attack masquerading as a documentary. When DailyKos got wind of this, the place went ballastic. Within minutes, dKos community members had written in from all over the country with lists of advertisers on Sinclair stations, the advertiser's phone numbers, names of store managers, etc. Instructions were drawn up on how to politely tell these advertisers that we were no longer buying their products because of Sinclair's plan to air the anti-Kerry hit piece.
I remember particularly a remarkable letter from New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi to David Smith, the CEO of Sinclair. As the sole trustee of the $115 billion New York State Retirement Fund holding more than 250,000 shares of Sinclair, the comptroller demanded answers from Smith, saying, "As a shareholder, I am writing to ask about some recent actions that have brought a great deal of publicity to our company. I would like to understand how these actions will improve performance and add to shareholder value."
In a matter of days, Sinclair's stock began to plummet under pressure from the boycott. And where did this "great deal of publicity" mentioned by Alan Hevesi come from? It came from us. From DailyKos. We got the information we needed, we shared it freely, and we acted on it. We got on the phone and called the local advertisers who advertised on Sinclair. Guess what happened? Sinclair essentially backed down and did not air the hit piece on Kerry.
The point is this: we can control the narrative. We have to hit them where it hurts. And maybe we can figure out a way to "Sinclair" the national media into forcing adequate coverage of John Edwards and his remarkable run for the presidency.
Maybe we could choose the biggest and worse culprit in the Edwards media blackout, get a list of major shareholders in that organization, inform those shareholders that we intend to boycott the advertisers on their media outlets all across the country. Then maybe we could compile lists of local and national advertisers and then get on the phone. It worked with Sinclair. Why can't it work with CNN or NBC? We've got to change this narrative.
America needs John Edwards in the White House.