Saturday, October 09, 2004

Atrios is right -- this is pretty outrageous:

Conservative TV Group to Air Anti-Kerry Film

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....

Sinclair has told its stations — many of them in political swing states such as Ohio and Florida — to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," sources said. The film, funded by Pennsylvania veterans and produced by a veteran and former Washington Times reporter, features former POWs accusing Kerry — a decorated Navy veteran turned war protester — of worsening their ordeal by prolonging the war....

The company made headlines in April when it ordered seven of its stations not to air Ted Koppel's "Nightline" roll call of military dead in Iraq, deeming it a political statement "disguised as news content." ...


--L.A. Times

Y'know, it's a free country, and you're free not to watch anything, ever, on any of Sinclair's TV stations, or buy any product advertised on them.

The documentary was made by Carlton Sherwood. Here's a book he wrote a while back -- Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Sherwood let Moon's Unification Church exercise editorial control over the book, then lied about it, as Frontline noted in 1992:

Narrator: One week after talking to Regnery [publisher of Inquisition], FRONTLINE obtained a copy of a letter addressed to Sun Myung Moon. The letter was written by James Gavin, a Moon aide. Gavin tells Moon he reviewed the "overall tone and factual contents" of Inquisition before publication and suggested revisions. Gavin adds that the author "Mr. Sherwood has assured me that all this will be done when the manuscript is sent to the publisher." Gavin concludes by telling Moon, "When all of our suggestions have been incorporated, the book will be complete and in my opinion will make a significant impact.... In addition to silencing our critics now, the book should be invaluable in persuading others of our legitimacy for many years to come."

Narrator: Although he refused an on-camera interview, Carlton Sherwood told Frontline that the Unification Movement exerted no editorial control over his book.

Narrator: When we visited Gavin's office in McLean, Virginia, our request for an interview was refused.


I'll stop there. I'm sure this story will get uglier the more we look into it.

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