Text 3844, 163 rader
Skriven 2004-10-20 16:47:02 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
Ärende: Sinclair charges Kerry playing unfairly
===============================================
The Sinclair TV group has said that in addition to distorted and flat out wrong
news reports about their airing of the anti-Kerry movie, the Kerry campaign has
engaged in public attacks even while conducting private talks with Sinclair. 
Typical liberals.  Can't trust any farther than you can piss up a rope in a
tornado.


COUNTDOWN TO ELECTION DAY
Sinclair: Kerry's attacks waged amid private talks
Broadcaster says campaign's public war obscured efforts to make balanced show

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: October 20, 2004
5:00 p.m. Eastern


By Art Moore
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com 

For the past two weeks, Sen. John Kerry's campaign has waged a multi-pronged
attack on the Sinclair Broadcast Group even as the Democratic nominee's
representatives privately have engaged in negotiations over the airing of
"Stolen Honor," an executive with the television chain contends. 

In an interview with WorldNetDaily, Sinclair's vice president for corporate
relations, Mark Hyman, said the discussions have taken the form of meeting
face-to-face with Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill, telephone calls and
written correspondence. 

Hyman asserts "flawed reporting" repeated by numerous outlets has contributed
to the perception that Sinclair planned to run the entire 42-minute program as
a right-wing hatchet job on Kerry and then scaled back as Democrats launched a
full-fledged attack. 

"We told [the Kerry campaign] the entire show format was on the table and it
was contingent on the level of [their] participation," Hyman said. "We also
told them we were willing to travel to any location in order to accommodate the
senator's campaign schedule. We finally left it that we will accommodate the
senator right up until air date should he change his mind and elect to
participate." 

The only requests have been, he said, that Kerry "or a reasonable designee with
some standing on the subject" participate and that the interview would not be
restricted by requiring provision of questions in advance or narrowing the
topic. 

Cahill did not immediately respond to WND's request for a response. 

Sinclair announced yesterday that stations in its markets, covering 24 percent
of the country, will broadcast a program Friday titled "A POW Story: Politics,
Pressure and the Media," examining allegations concerning Kerry's anti-Vietnam
War activities and the role of media and the use of documentaries in
influencing voters. 

The company has issued a list of the local stations and broadcast times. 

As WorldNetDaily first reported, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal"
presents former POWs who tell how Kerry's 1971 testimony to the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee was used as propaganda against them by their North
Vietnamese captors, intensifying their persecution and prolonging the war and
imprisonment. 

Democrats have responded on many fronts to Sinclair's announcement to air the
allegations in "Stolen Honor." 

"All of this has been intended to draw attention away from the heart of the
matter which are the allegations made by the 13 men -- including two Medal of
Honor winners -- who appear in the documentary," Hyman said. "These POWs allege
that John Kerry's 1971 testimony before the Senate had a direct impact on them
during their captivity in North Vietnam." 

The challenges to Sinclair include: 


The Democratic National Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election
Commission charging that the broadcast by Sinclair would amount to an illegal
campaign contribution. 

A group of 18 Democratic senators asked Federal Communications Commission
Chairman Michael Powell to probe whether the program violated regulations on
the use of public airwaves. 

The Kerry campaign wrote a legal brief to the president of Sinclair, insisting
the Democratic presidential nominee should be given equal time and allowed to
run his own program. 

Sinclair received a letter from a Democrat comptroller in New York on behalf of
a retirement fund that holds 256,600 shares of the broadcast company, warning
the controversy could damage the investment. 

A Vietnam veteran and anti-war activist who appears in the documentary has
announced the filing of a libel suit against Sherwood, claiming he was falsely
characterized as a "fraud" who charged soldiers with war crimes but "never set
foot on the battlefield." 

A Democratic party donor, William S. Lerach, sent a letter yesterday to the
news company calling the broadcast plan "reckless," alleging insider trading by
officers and threatening a shareholder lawsuit.
Hyman said he is perplexed by Kerry campaign officials and surrogates referring
to the POWs statements as as "lies" and "scurrilous." 

"We're not certain what part of the POWs story they label as lies," he said.
"Is it that they served in Vietnam? Were captured? Were held in captivity? Or
that they suffered horrific abuse and unspeakable torture for years?" 

He also noted that critics have referred to filmmaker Carlton Sherwood as a
"Washington Times reporter" in an attempt to show the left he is beholden to a
conservative bias. 

"They don't mention that he has had a 36-year career in journalism that
includes winning both the Pulitzer and the Peabody, the most prestigious
journalism awards in both print and television, respectively," Hyman said. "He
also has Emmys in TV journalism. He has worked for Gannett, CNN and at local
television stations. Out of a 36-year career they cite the less than one year
he spent at the Washington Times." 

Hyman said no one has earned the right to speak out on Vietnam more than the
POWs. 

"For the news gatekeepers to ignore them when they've ended 31 years of
self-imposed silence is shameless," he said. 

Hyman sees hypocrisy in news organizations advancing the contention that
Sinclair has a political agenda. 

According to Sherwood, he notes, ABC News had no interest in speaking to the
POWs in the film. Yet, last week "Nightline" aired a program based on
Vietnamese villagers' accounts of disputed claims surrounding Kerry's Silver
Star medal. 

"ABC can send a crew halfway around the world to interview people in a
Communist country, but it declines to speak to American servicemen -- including
two Medal of Honor winners -- who collectively spent almost 84 years in the
same Communist country being tortured and abused," Hyman said. 

"Tell me ABC News isn't pursuing a political agenda. Of course they are." 

Jerome Corsi, co-author of "Unfit for Command," said he sees the Kerry campaign
operating in a similar manner to its reaction to the Swift Boat Vets and POWs
for Truth best-seller, which documents the charges of more than 250 of Kerry's
colleagues in Vietnam. 

"It's John Kerry who doesn't want both sides of the story told," said Corsi,
who helped line up Sinclair with Sherwood's film. "He wanted 'Unfit for
Command' pulled off the bookshelves, and he went to all the stations showing
television ads, threatening to sue." 

The swifboat vets group has produced nine television commercials that have run
in crucial swing states and nationally on cable channels. 

"Kerry's band of lawyers is trying to reinterpret the First Amendment, trying
to suppress any view that is unfavorable," Corsi said. "Even when they get a
forum offered, they turn around and attack Sinclair." 



John 

America:  First, Last, and Always!
Go to www.madgorilla.us for all your Domain Name Services at the lowest rates.

--- Msged/386 TE 05
 * Origin: We are the Watchmen of our own Liberty! (1:379/1.99)