Risks Seen for TV Chain Showing Film About Kerry

[Mizmoon]

BY BILL CARTER

Published: October 18, 2004


Senator John Kerry could find his presidential hopes damaged this week when the 62 television stations owned or managed by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group carry a documentary about his antiwar activities 30 years ago.

But the Democratic nominee for the White House may not be the only one adversely affected.

Sinclair - the nation's largest owner of television stations, many of them in electoral swing states - is itself running a significant financial and political risk by telling its stations to pre-empt regular programming and carry the film. Already, Sinclair's decision has alienated some advertisers; enraged consumer and media watchdog groups, who are vowing to challenge its station licenses when they come up for renewal; and given pause to some analysts and investors considering the company's financial outlook.

Representatives of Sinclair did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment. But the company, whose executives have been among the largest media contributors to President Bush, has said the documentary deserves to be seen because it is news, and as such does not fall under federally mandated equal-time provisions for political candidates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/business/media/18sinclair.html?hp&ex=1098072000&en=1bbebca7c5f805bf&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Catt03]

1. Ugh..makes me sick

plus we already know all this.

[Mizmoon]

2. Read the whole thing

clip:

But the furor over "Stolen Honor'' appears to be affecting Sinclair in ways these previous actions did not. In some cities - among them, Portland, Me.; Madison, Wis.; Springfield, Ill.; and Minneapolis - local advertisers, including car dealers, furniture makers, supermarkets and restaurants, have taken their commercials off the company's stations.

"I've decided I don't want to advertise on them," said Adam Lee, the president of Lee Auto Malls, which owns 10 auto dealerships in Portland Me., and has ordered its advertising off the CBS affiliate, WGME. "It's a public trust. It seems they're abusing it. If it were a news show and they were really trying to do a fair and balanced story on both sides, that would be a different matter. I don't think they are. That's not their intention.''

[Aviation Pro]

3. Yet another evangelical, righteous.....

...perverted Republican who thinks that God has a special mission for Monkey Chimp. Read on (from the Baltimore Sun):

The president of Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which owns the local Fox television affiliate, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with committing a perverted sex act in a company-owned Mercedes, city police said.

David Deniston Smith, 45, of the 800 block of Hillstead Drive in Timonium, who also is Sinclair's chief executive, was arrested in an undercover sting at Read and St. Paul streets, a downtown corner frequented by prostitutes, Baltimore police said yesterday.

Smith and Mary DiPaulo, 31, were charged with committing an unnatural and perverted sex act. Smith was held overnight at the Central Booking and Intake Center and released on personal recognizance at 2 p.m. yesterday. DiPaulo's bail status was not available.

Officials at WBFF-TV (Fox 45) and Sinclair, one of the fastest-growing broadcasting companies in the nation with 28 television and 34 radio stations, would not comment yesterday. The company had $126 million in sales in the first half of this year.

Police said undercover Officer Gary Bowman, on a prostitution detail, was talking to DiPaulo about 9: 15 p.m. in a car at St. Paul and Read streets. She left the undercover car after telling Bowman that ``she had just seen her regular date driving in the area,'' according to court documents.

Police said DiPaulo ran across the street to a 1992 Mercedes, registered to Sinclair, and got in on the passenger side. Police followed the car onto the Jones Falls Expressway, where they said they witnessed the two engage in oral sex while Smith drove north.

Police said they followed the car back to Read and St. Paul streets, where they arrested Smith and DiPaulo, who lives in the 700 block of Washington Blvd.

[jean]

4. A perverted, foreign-car-driving, multi-tasker: What a creep!

[Mizmoon]

6. BWAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!

Couldn't have happened to a bigger asshole :)

[oasis]

7. Sinclair executive charged with sexual perversion. Wake up America.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Did This Guy Smoke Crack Before He Wrote This Trie?

Sinclair's the largest owner of television stations in the country? Somebody better tell General Electric, Viacom, Disney, Tribune and Clear Channel about that one. Sinclair plays in small and medium markets where there are few competitors and they can corner the market.

I'm so tired of people confusing the fact that Sinclair hold publicly issued broadcats licenses and this is what is being abused. I could care less how much of their own money they give to whom (as long as the employees get a decent wage and aren't discriminated against) as long as it doesn't affect what they program or their attempts to use their license to deceive...which is what this is.

Straight out, Sinclair loses billions and the company faces possible bankruptcy is Bunnypants isn't re-selected and deregulation goes through. This is even more cynical since the only principal here is to save David Smith's ass from his long-overdue comeuppence.

[Tatiana]

8. This is why, in the end, some good may come of this Sinclair mess:

From the article...

"The recoil from Democrats at the F.C.C., and frankly moderate Republicans alike, suggests that Sinclair might be harming itself short term in revenues and long term in deregulation tactics," he said. "If the company intends to curry favor with the Republican free marketers and swing the scales back toward the deregulation of media, Sinclair may have harmed its own cause by hardening the resolve of the consumer advocates."

With the documentary becoming a point of contention in the presidential race, Mr. Levin said, Sinclair could face a no-win situation. If Mr. Bush is re-elected, Sinclair has created a circumstance where the deregulation it wants would be widely interpreted as what the Legg Mason report called "the Sinclair payback provision." If Mr. Kerry wins, he might try to lead the F.C.C. to consider regulations that could hurt Sinclair's position.