ceebeegee | (no subject)

Have you guys heard about this?

The conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose television outlets reach nearly a quarter of the nation's homes with TV, is ordering its stations to preempt regular programming just days before the Nov. 2 election to air a film that attacks Sen. John F. Kerry's activism against the Vietnam War, network and station executives familiar with the plan said Friday.

This is...unbelievable. Doesn't this go against FCC regulations? WTF?

What a bunch of fucking thin-skinned pricks. Fuck you, Sinclair. These are the same people that blacked out Ted Koppel's roll call of the American military dead in Iraq last April. Way to honor your troops, guys! *sarcastic applause* Nice to see you couldn't even bear to hear the names of those who died for this war. We can blithely choose to go to war, without ever having to confront the ultimate cost of it.

What was that about the vast left-wing conspiracy of the "liberal media"? Yeah.

The more I hear about shit like this, the angrier it makes me. We the people apparently can't be trusted to make up our own minds. We have to be spoonfed our opinions and our votes. Nice to see at least McCain has the balls to stand up to them--I don't agree with his policies but he's got integrity.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Doesn't this go against FCC regulations?

More likely FEC. Drudge has a headline about the DNC filing an FEC complaint, but as of this writing, it just links to a press release about a DNC conference call; no news article about it yet.

Of course, this is just a response to Michael Moore's plans to air Fahrenheit 9/11 right before the election. Originally, he wanted it on broadcast TV, but Columbia TriStar, who own the rights, wouldn't allow it, so he's in talks to put it on pay-per-view instead.

I should add that the FEC complaint isn't likely to get very far, since, according to the NY Times article, in the interest of equal time, Sinclair has invited Kerry on-air to respond:

Because Sinclair is defining the documentary - which will run commercial free - as news, it is unclear if it will be required by federal regulations to provide Mr. Kerry's campaign with equal time to respond.

But acknowledging that news standards call for fairness, Mr. Hyman said an invitation has been extended to Mr. Kerry to respond after the documentary is shown. "There are certainly serious allegations that are leveled; we would very much like to get his response," he said.

Asked if Sinclair would consider running a documentary of similar length either lauding Mr. Kerry, responding to the charges in "Stolen Honor" or criticizing Mr. Bush, Mr. Hyman said, "We'd just have to take a look at it."

Aides to Mr. Kerry said he would not accept Sinclair's invitation.