The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has filed a formal protest with the Federal Election Commission over plans by a major broadcast group to air a film next week criticizing presidential hopeful John Kerry's anti-war activism upon returning from active duty in Vietnam. Sinclair Broadcast Group has asked its 62 television stations to pre-empt regular programming next week in order to show the film, which accuses Sen. Kerry of betraying American POWs through his activism. Democrats allege that the broadcast is an improper use of the airwaves and an illegal in-kind contribution to the Bush-Cheney campaign.
CNN has more. CNSNEWS.com reports on a statement by Federal Communications Commissioner Michael J. Copps Tuesday calling the Sinclair broadcast an "abuse of public trust" just days prior to the presidential election.
Via Russell Adkins at Paper Chase.
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is the same right-wing nuthouse that refused to broadcast ABC's Nightline when Ted Koppel read the names of the Americans killed in Iraq back in April (when the count was only 500, not the current 1,077, as of yesterday). BTW, they're seriously in bed with the Bush administration.
If you'd like to tell the executives at Sinclair how you feel about their abuse of the public airwaves to further their right-wing agenda (and profit further from their close relationship with Bush), you can email them directly:
Mark Hyman, Vice President for Corporate Relations: mhyman@sbgnet.com
David Smith, CEO: dsmith@sbgnet.com
Joe Defeo, Corporate News Director: jdefeo@sbgnet.com
If you do so, please remember to be polite. (Thanks to Atrios for many of the links.)