[opendtv] Re: SINCLAIR TO AIR "A POW STORY: POLITICS, PRESSURE AND THE MEDIA"

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, John Willkie <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:24:44 -0400

At 7:38 AM -0400 10/20/04, Mark A. Aitken (Webmail) wrote:
>It is absolutely the case that this corporation NEVER stated an intent to air
>the documentary in full (nor did they seriously contemplate same),
>the 'attribution' to that coming from a LA Times claim to know more about what
>Sinclair was doing than Sinclair knew.
>
>The fight that has ensued is nothing but partisan. (Duh...really?)
>
>The above statements are made by myself with full disclosure that I am an
>employee of one of the worlds most important, preeminent media conglomerates,
>fair and balanced news organizations, and by simple statement of the facts
>that remain known to all, truly in a position to know.
>
>;-0
>

Just for the record... One of the first accurate reports about 
Sinclair's plans that I saw, was aired on the Fox News Channel in an 
interview with Mark Hyman. This took place at least one week ago. In 
that interview he stated that no decision had been made on the final 
program content, as they were still trying to get participation from 
the Kerry campaign. A story in the Guardian published on October 11th 
parallels Hyman's comments in the interview:

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.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4543962,00.html

By the way, The Guardian is the UK publication that published the 
addresses of voters in Ohio, so that readers in the UK could write 
them letters trying to influence them to vote for Kerry.

It should be obvious that one cannot fill a one-hour slot with a 42 
minute documentary, unless you put in 18 minutes of commercials. 
Every report I have seen about this intended broadcast has indicated 
that Sinclair wanted to use the documentary as a backdrop for a 
larger discussion about the campaign.

It now appears that this HAS become a REAL news story. I can't give 
Sinclair credit for having thought this all out in advance, but it 
does not take much intelligence to understand that they are now 
sitting on a real news story about the role of "propaganda" in the 
disguise of documentary and news in this election cycle. Too bad I 
don't live in a Sinclair market where I can watch.

And speaking of double standards, did you see the story about the 
theater ( I think in Pennsylvania) that was going to show the 
documentary to paying customers last night, but caved at the last 
minute to pressure from the Kerry campaign? Apparently Michael Moore 
can wrap himself up in the First Ammendment, but those who are 
critical of Kerry cannot...

Go figure.

Regards
Craig


(and perhaps segments from other documentaries

 
 
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