CNN: "Sinclair--We Don't Even Try to Be Fair and Balanced!"

[blue neen]

CNN just ran a story about Sinclair's plans to broadcast the Anti-Kerry movie right before the election.! It was a pretty damning indictment of Sinclair.

[craiga86]

1. I saw this too

I was getting ready to post this too.

In regards to Sinclair, the media might not give these guys much credibility. The guy on CNN just said that these are the same guys who wouldn't run a piece on ABC for fallen soldiers. I'm thinking if these guys actually keep this showing on air, they will probably lose their credibility before.

[napi21]

2. Yea, that was on Reliable Sources. Recapped the deal over

refusing to run the Nightline reading of the killed soldiers on Nightline, and now demanding the anti-Kerry movie just prior to the election. Howard Kurtz said "Sinclair dosen't even try to be fair and balanced!!!

[Supersedeas]

13. Doesn't even try??? Appearances mean everything to Kurtz...

[madrchsod]

3. more to the point

just how many millions of viewers are going to be throughly pissed off when they can`t watch their fave shows? how many are going to be calling the local stations and advertisers? what are the advertisers going to think when they find out that they may lose thousands of dollars of revenue from lost audiences? is Sinclair going to rebate them???

[blue neen]

5. Yeah, what are they going to do, pre-empt football games

to show this? This one is really going to blow up in their face.

[9119495]

14. I agree

My inital reaction was akin to "Holy Fucking Shit!" But now,I think this will galvinize us.

After all, the right said F9-11 could not be believed. Are they really going to be able to creidbly argue that "yeah, this one is okay though?"

Also, McCain will even condemn this.

Also, won't the boards have to answer to share holders if Sinclair is a publically traded company? They can't go against the profit motive so perhaps we need to find out who these people are and get the word out.

[blue neen]

15. Their share holders are already talking about selling.

They say there is "A Major Boycott coming this week."

DU'ers ARE pissed.

[KharmaTrain]

12. Great Point!

In all the huffing and puffing I didn't get a specific time this show is airing...day, date, etc.

Many of the Sinclair stations are ABC affiliates (the ones that didn't carry Nightline) and would they dare pre-empt MNF for BULLSHIT? Probably.

I worked for an owner who used his station to push the local politicos around and pissed off lots of people in the community, but he didn't care. He knew he was the only station in town and all his buddies...the big banks, car dealers and so on, were selfish assholes just like him.

On one occasion we didn't carry a big high school playoff game so the station could air his favorite wingnut talk host...the game was tape delayed (yet advertisers paid top dollar). The stations phone rang off the hook all day long and mobs with pitchforks began to form around the doors. And where was our intrepid leader that day? Surely not at the station.

I suspect the weekend folks at those Sinclair stations who dared to answer a phone or check their email got hit by a tidal wave. I feel for these folks as this isn't their decision, and I suspect that weasel Smith will bluster like he did during the Nightline noise from his nice and cozy mansion.

[Roland99]

4. The Bushies are saying...

how is this different from Air America or Rush Limbaugh's radio show?

[Mz Pip]

7. AA and Rush

do not preempt anything. The whole purpose of this Sinclair thing is to get people to watch because nothing else is on. Unfortunately there are enough people out there who will do just that. And because this show is a prememtion of regular programming there is the illusion that it is not only important, but true as well.

People know what they're getting when they turn on Rush.

MzPip
:dem:

[AntiFascist]

10. This is the whole problem with consolidation of tv stations in general....

In many communities, particularly in rural areas, people rely on only a couple of broadcast tv stations for their news and program material. If one station is politically biased than this bias may not be offset by another station, or most stations may have the same bias. Sinclair is regulated so that it can only own up to a certain percentage of the market, covering all media in that market. As far as radio stations are concerned, there are generally many more radio stations than tv stations. If one broadcasts Limbaugh then another may broadcast Air America without affecting a majority of the market. Television tends to have much more strict regulations.

[LiberalAndProud]

11. The thing about radio stations

may be true in your area. But outside of PBS, Clearchannel has a virtual monopoly on talk radio here.

Air America? only on the internets.

[liveoaktx]

6. We need to separate out CABLE versus BROADCAST television

Broadcast television is REGULATED by the FCC because they get to use the airwaves... FOR FREE. Cable, on the other hand, pays for their infrastructure and people pay to watch those channels, so it's a different ball of wax.

Sinclair BROADCASTING can LOSE their licence -you MUST complain to the FCC about this as well as them. They HAVE to maintain programming in the public interest, they do NOT get to just put whatever they want on the airwaves. We HAVE to understand this and act on it, they, again, use the airwaves FOR FREE and are thus REGULATED.

One more time on Linda Foley's video about broadcasting responsibilties. Everyone should WATCH this and UNDERSTAND

Broadcaster responsibility

[Shopaholic]

8. But will the Republican controlled FCC take any of our complaints

seriously? I mean, there is NO fairness doctrine in place anymore and it's my understanding that as long as they serve the "public interest" and they can claim that part of their viewing audience is in fact, Republican, then that's what they're doing so do we really have a case against them? Yes, I know that there should be something that prevents them from doing this, and no one wants the system changed more than me, but in the end, will any complaining work against these idiots? Remember, we all raised hell about the Nightline thing and they went ahead and pulled it off their ABC stations anyway.

[blue neen]

9. I can't get videos on this dial-up.

Would you mind giving a brief summary of what she says. Thanks.