Sinclair Broadcasting has followed the lead of Fox News and emerged as a new force in biased broadcasting.
The company, whose 62 local stations reach 24 percent of all U.S. TV households, recently announced plans to pre-empt network broadcasting and air an uninterrupted, primetime version of “Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal.”
| The Issue Sinclair Broadcasting will pre-empt network shows for anti-Kerry “Stolen Honor” |
The 42-minute documentary bashes John Kerry’s participation in the Vietnam War, his protest of the war upon returning home and his testimony of horrible war crimes being committed by U.S. soldiers.
The same company executives who called the documentary “definitely a newsworthy event” refused to broadcast an episode of Nightline in which host Ted Koppel read the names of 500 soldiers who died in combat, calling it “motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq.”
Sinclair’s actions are further evidence of the excessive presence that corporations have in the U.S. media and its resultant negative effects plaguing our society.
In a shockingly unconcealed display of allegiance, four top Sinclair executives involved in these decisions donated the maximum contribution of $2,000 to the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.
It is absolutely no secret that Sinclair Broadcasting has thoroughly compromised its journalistic ethics, but also no secret that the company is likely to get away with it.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is regulated by Michael Powell, son of Republican Secretary of Defense Colin Powell, already has stated it would be unlikely that it would intervene.
This illustrates the broader spectrum of the problem. You can do a lot of damage and pull a lot of strings when you have a lot of money. Media corporations such as Sinclair are throwing their weight around and getting away with it.
