October 20, 2004
Sinclair Update
ts: Most of you have probably heard by now (I hope) of the Sinclair Broadcast Group — which owns broadcast stations in 25% of US markets and whose executives are among the top donors to the Bush campaign — and its plans to air an anti-Kerry documentary on stations across the country, including several swing states. Following is the latest post from the blog of the Boycott Sinclair Broadcast Group, who have been leading efforts to pull advertisers from the affiliates.
In response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of MediaMatters today (because of your work in causing the stock price to fall, might I add) , Sinclair has issued a statement. The release contains the statement (emphasis mine):Contrary to numerous inaccurate political and press accounts, the Sinclair stations will not be airing the documentary “Stolen Honor” in its entirety. At no time did Sinclair ever publicly announce that it intended to do so. In fact, since the controversy began, Sinclair’s website has prominently displayed the following statement: “The program has not been videotaped and the exact format of this unscripted event has not been finalized. Characterizations regarding the content are premature and are based on ill-informed sources.”
Really? Really? Never were going to show Stolen Honor? How about this listing in the Yahoo! television section, for our local Kansas City Sinclair affiliate:
Folks, we’re close but we’re not there yet. The move to a new Friday “documentary” is not nearly enough to let us yield, not yet. We have now nearly 100 advertiser pullouts, with more coming in daily.
Remember, it was the work of you that caused the stock price to fall. We can succeed in this. We’re so close, and we will not give in. Keep fighting.
