Major Dayton advertiser may never 'spend another dime' on Sinclair

[AngryOldDem]

...if WKEF shows the Kerry film.

Two big :thumbsup: :thumbsup: this morning to Mike Dyer, of the Dayton area law firm Dyer, Garofalo, Mann and Schultz.

His firm spends more than $200,000 a year on ads at WKEF.

Snip: "Everybody has the right to free speech. As an advertiser, I have the right to spend my money as I choose."

Read the rest here: http://www.daytondailynews.com/columns/content/localnews/columns/daily/1015mary.html

[cali]

1. And in Maine

Hannaford Supermarkets (a large N.E. chain), a car dealership and a law firm have pulled advertising from the Sinclair Portland station.

[Kukesa]

2. Hooray for Mike Dyer!

And be sure to read this

Tim Feran
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Protesters are planning to picket Sinclair Broadcast Group’s 62 television stations — including two in Columbus — in response to plans to air a film highly critical of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s anti-war activities 30 years ago.

The protests, scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, are being organized by Web logs, including www.-boycottsinclair.blogspot-.com and www.stopsinclair.org .
...
Amid the controversy, several companies — including one of WSYX’s biggest advertisers, HER Real Living Realtors — have pulled ads from WSYX because of Sinclair’s decision to air the film.

Sinclair’s stock finished yesterday at $7.29 a share, its lowest level this month.

[e-mail]

http://www.dispatch.com/election/election-president.php...


On Edit:
This was originally posted by Iceberg under Latest Breaking News.

[AngryOldDem]

3. This is such a boneheaded move by Sinclair

...I would think that the potential local loss of advertising revenues, which could really hurt some of these affiliates, would make Sinclair think twice. If an ad pullout picks up steam -- and it's looking like it is -- this could REALLY hurt these stations. Not to mention the bad blood that this could cause between the affiliates and the networks, since the networks are losing a whole hour of prime-time to this.

I'm sure in this medium-sized market $200,000 is a VERY big deal to WKEF and WRGT. But hey, Dyer's right. There are other places to go to advertise. In a SMALL way, I kind of feel sorry for WKEF -- they probably don't want to air this garbage either, but they have to. Also, how does this help their new working relationship with their other "boss," ABC? While ABC is probably just as partisan as anyone else, money talks just as loudly for them, too. Talk about being caught in the middle.

I don't think I've ever seen something as audacious as this. I remember in the past when the Dems and GOP bought a half-hour of airtime on the major networks (which the networks were free to either accept or decline) a night or so before Election Day, but the other side ALWAYS got the chance for equal time.

Why the FCC can't step in here and do something is amazing, and shows just how totally toothless the FCC and the election commission have become. And that is not a healthy sign for democracy. A VERY BAD precedent has been set here.