An Improper use of Public Airwaves

[The-Raven]

http://cnn.aimtoday.cn n.com/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0001/20041011/1506684031.htm

Dems Oppose Plan to Air Anti-Kerry Film

By LIZ SIDOTI

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democratic Party and 18 senators are objecting to a broadcasting company's plan to air on 62 TV stations a critical documentary about John Kerry's anti-war activities after he returned home from Vietnam three decades ago.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has asked its television stations - many of them in competitive states in the presidential election - to pre-empt regular programming to run the documentary as part of an hourlong program two weeks before the Nov. 2 election.

Based near Baltimore, the company owns or manages affiliates of major broadcast networks in several states, including Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Mark Hyman, a vice president of corporate relations for Sinclair who also is a conservative commentator for the company, said Monday the show would contain some or all of the 42-minute film as well as a panel discussion of some sort. He said final details had not been worked out.

The documentary, called ``Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal,'' chronicles Kerry's 1971 testimony before Congress and links him to activist and actress Jane Fonda. It includes interviews with Vietnam prisoners of war and their wives who claim that Kerry's testimony - filled with ``lurid fantasies of butchery in Vietnam'' on the part of U.S. troops - demeaned them and led their captors to hold them longer.

The Democratic National Committee planned to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday contending that Sinclair's airing of the film should be considered an illegal in-kind contribution to President Bush's campaign. Also, 18 Democratic senators sent a letter to the Federal Communication Commission asking that it investigate whether Sinclair's plan was an improper use of public airwaves.

However, Sinclair's Hyman said, ``The documentary is just a part of a special news event that we're putting together. We've invited one person to be a guest. That's Senator John Kerry.'' The company posted a note on its Web site Monday afternoon urging people to call Kerry's headquarters to urge his participation.

Chad Clanton, a Kerry campaign spokesman, said, ``Everything is on the table but it's hard to take an offer seriously from a group with such a fierce partisan agenda, a group that's clearly not interested in the truth.''

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said the company was acting as a mouthpiece for the Republican Party rather than a legitimate news outlet.

``In this election cycle, they have put their money where their right-wing mouths are,'' he said. ``Sinclair's owners aren't interested in news. They're interested in pro-Bush propaganda.''

Campaign finance records show that the company's executives have donated thousands of dollars to Bush's campaign. In April, the company was in the news for refusing to run a ``Nightline'' show in which hundreds of names of American troops killed in Iraq were read by ABC anchor Ted Koppel.

Hyman called the allegations about the documentary ``absolutely absurd.''

``Would they suggest that our reporting a car bomb in Iraq is an in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign? Would they suggest that our reporting on job losses is an in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign?'' he said. ``It's the news. It is what it is. We're reporting the news.''

Carlton Sherwood, a Vietnam veteran and former journalist who made the film, said Monday that he felt the media had not explored the period of Kerry's life after he returned from Vietnam, including when he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee alleging atrocities in Vietnam.

``For 33 years, we've been saying that how Kerry portrayed us was utterly false. It was purgatory of the worst kind. It was slander,'' Sherwood said. ``But no one wanted to talk about it. Everybody ran for cover.''

Sherwood, based in Harrisburg, Pa., said the film took six weeks to make, and Sinclair contacted him last month upon the film's completion. He said he was told last week of the company's plans to run it, and that the company was not compensating him for the film.

Cliffs:
Anti-Kerry documentary to be aired on national TV two weeks before election
Democrats in a hissy fit (Yet also planning on airing Fahrenheit 9/11 the night before the election ) calling it an 'improper use of public airwaves'

[Munka]

tl;dr

[genius]

and I should care ?

[newbtard]

:care:
let them show the damn thing, if Michael Moore can go against Bush in the movie theaters then why not someone show something about Kerry on the TV. Maybe people should decide what they want to see.

[mkcq]

go suck on some army dick

[The-Raven]

Originally Posted by newbtard

:care:
let them show the damn thing, if Michael Moore can go against Bush in the movie theaters then why not someone show something about Kerry on the TV. Maybe people should decide what they want to see.

9/11 will be on TV the night before elections...

[The_Tourist]

a documentary describing kerry as anti-war will make me want to vote for him even more

[tH Conscript]

AS A DEMOCRAT I DONT WANT YOU PORTRAYING US AS WHINEY BABYS THIS IS IMPROPER USE OF INTERNET TECHNOAGLIEZ AM I RITE???

[jim87654]

Originally Posted by The-Raven

9/11 will be on TV the night before elections...

But it will be pay-per-view

[yoaliens]

omg this thread should be locked bc its a cnn link and DM banned cnn links but he didnt really know why when i asked him about it.

[Queen Pee(nis)]

Originally Posted by The-Raven

http://cnn.aimtoday.cn n.com/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0001/20041011/1506684031.htm



Cliffs:
Anti-Kerry documentary to be aired on national TV two weeks before election
Democrats in a hissy fit (Yet also planning on airing Fahrenheit 9/11 the night before the election ) calling it an 'improper use of public airwaves'

Yea, Moore is playing it on HBO the night before.

[Queen Pee(nis)]

Originally Posted by mkcq

go suck on some army dick

And WTF is this shit? you're a

[siriusnova]

Originally Posted by The_Tourist

a documentary describing kerry as anti-war will make me want to vote for him even more

[gee]

so kerry went to vietnam, dealt with the holy fucking mess that went on over there, then came back and told people "wow, war sucks, terrible shit happened"... OMG DON'T VOTE FOR HIM!

[The-Raven]

Originally Posted by gee

so kerry went to vietnam, dealt with the holy fucking mess that went on over there, then came back and told people "wow, war sucks, terrible shit happened"... OMG DON'T VOTE FOR HIM!

yeah, that's why I'm not voting for him...






and omg! bush makes silly faces when he talks! dont' vote for him!









nader is the obvious choice here