SwiftVets.com

Truegrit

The Kerry camp apparently is looking for a backdoor means of halting the showing of Stolen Honor by Sinclair -- namely a shareholder lawsuit.

I don't think that will fly in the courts, but it's important to mobilize the Vets and also Sinclair shareholders sympathetic to our cause to weigh in on this issue.
_________________
Ted Harwood, Ph.D.
Enlisted, U.S. Army ('57-'60)

Stevie · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:27 pm Post subject:

now I wish I could see it also... will call and see if it airs where my daughter lives and have her tape it for me....
maybe they'll use the clip of chad threatening sinclair !!!! that would be great....
they may wish they'd let sinclair alone
_________________
Stevie
Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage
morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should
be arrested, exiled or hanged.

Stevie · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:29 pm Post subject:

neal on newwatch / fox made a big deal about the shareholders and that sinclair stock had fallen....

does anyone remember where we have a list of abc and nbc stations and sponsers?
_________________
Stevie
Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage
morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should
be arrested, exiled or hanged.

JK · PO3 Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Posts: 259

Shows the pressue Kerry and liberals have placed on Sinclair, I recall Sinclair never planned to air the entire documentary but only use portions as part of the news program, if the program is acceptable to Kerry and liberals there will be no further backlash. If not Sinclair will suffer.

Earlier tonight Olberman made it a point to have the Sinclair reporter who was fired by Sinclair for not following company policy on his show - he is a hero to Olberman - for standing up to Sinclair. Just so happens Olberman and the employee have the "same" agent. Olberman also mentioned that Sinclair stock had declined due to airing the documentary.

Later O'Reilly had Pete Peterson a former POW and now ambassador on to support Kerry. Peterson said that while he was a captive conditions became better in the 70s and there was only one reference to protestors against the war in the United States and he never heard Kerry's name mentioned by his interrogators or fellow POWs. In another segment O'Reilly said that some of the allegations from the SVBT were true and others untrue - a middle of the road approach by using a generalization with NO details. Also note that BOR did NOT have anyone from the SBVT or a POW with a counter viewpoint on the show to debate Peterson.

JK

wednesdaychild · PO3 Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Posts: 276

GiveMeFreedom · PO3 Joined: 23 Aug 2004 Posts: 279 Location: Wisconsin

Just got this from the guy at soft-vision, where we signed the email of support to Sinclair:

People, this is HUGE!

Re: http://www.soft-vision.com/stolenhonor:

THANKS TO ALL Thank you to all who signed or who just came intending to sign and send one of the letters below. The issue is now MOOT! You did it!! You made a difference. Over 7000 people signed in. I could hardly find the
regular mail it got so busy. People came from every state in the Union as well as Korea, Australia, New Zeland,
Canada, UK, Bahama's, Virgin Islands and Philipines ( France & Germany are still pouting I guess )

Please consider visiting: http://www.stolenhonor.com and buying a copy of the DVD to share with your friends and neighbors. SOFTVision nor Joe receive no commision or other renumeration for your purchase.

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Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 19:06:17 -0400
From: Alan Cartwright
To: Joe Oliver <joessoft@yahoo.com>

October 19, 2004

Sinclair Broadcasting has released new information about the content of the special, slated to air on Friday night at 8pm. Please visit our website at www.wgme.com for additional information about this program.

Alan Cartwright
General Manager
WGME 13

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SPECIAL PROGRAM
BALTIMORE (October 19, 2004)
Sinclair Broadcast Group (Nasdaq: SBGI) announced today that on Friday, October 22, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. WGME 13 will air a special one-hour news program, entitled A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media. The news special will focus in part on the use of documentaries and other media to influence voting, which emerged during the 2004 political campaigns, as well as on the content of certain of these documentaries. The program will also examine the role of the media in filtering the information contained in these documentaries, allegations of media bias by media organizations that ignore or filter legitimate news and the attempts by candidates and other organizations to influence media coverage. Contrary to numerous inaccurate political and press accounts, the Sinclair stations will not be airing the documentary “Stolen Honor” in its entirety. At no time did Sinclair ever publicly announce that it intended to do so. In fact, since the controversy began, Sinclair’s website has prominently displayed the following statement: “The program has not been videotaped and the exact format of this unscripted event has not been finalized. Characterizations regarding the content are premature and are based on ill-informed sources.” While the news special will discuss the allegations surrounding Senator John Kerry’s anti-Vietnam War activities in the early 1970s raised by a number of former POWs in “Stolen Honor,” it will do so in the context of the broader discussion outlined above. The program will be hosted by Jeff Barnd, the Emmy award winning co-anchor of Fox 45’s 10:00 News which airs on WBFF-TV, Sinclair’s flagship station in Baltimore, Maryland. Joe DeFeo, Sinclair’s Vice President of News commented that, “As with all news programming produced by Sinclair’s News Central, A POW Story is being produced with the highest journalistic standards and integrity. We have not ceded, and will not in the future cede, control of our news reporting to any outside organization or political group. We are endeavoring, as we do with all of our news coverage, to present both sides of the issues covered in an equal and impartial manner.” In fact, Sinclair has been in private communication with Senator Kerry’s campaign, including a recent face-to-face meeting with senior campaign officials, for approximately two weeks in order to negotiate participation in the special by either Senator Kerry or his designee. Although the Kerry campaign declined to participate, Sinclair has left the invitation open and will make every effort to accommodate the Senator up to the air date for the program should he become willing to present his viewpoint for Sinclair’s audience. David Smith noted that, “The experience of preparing to air this news special has been trying for many of those involved. The company and many of its executives have endured personal attacks of the vilest nature, as well as calls on our advertisers and our viewers to boycott our stations and on our shareholders to sell their stock. In addition, and more shockingly, we have received threats of retribution from a member of Senator John Kerry’s campaign and have seen attempts by leading members of Congress to influence the Federal Communications Commission to stop Sinclair from broadcasting this news special. Moreover, these coordinated attacks have occurred without regard to the facts since they predated the broadcast of our news special.” Mr. Smith further stated, “We cannot in a free America yield to the misguided attempts by a small but vocal minority to influence behavior and trample on the First Amendment rights of those with whom they might not agree. I have been encouraged, however, by the thousands of e-mails and other messages I, and others, received supporting Sinclair’s efforts to hold firm to its ideals in the face of a firestorm of controversy which, ironically, was actually based on misinformation. We also took comfort in the positions of other media organizations which supported our right to present this story notwithstanding any disagreement they may have with the content, as well as in the words of Michael Powell, Chairman of the FCC who refused to block the program, noting that to do so would be ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘an absolute disservice to the First Amendment.’” Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies, owns and operates, programs, or provides sales services to 62 television stations in 39 markets. Sinclair's television group includes FOX, WB, ABC, CBS, NBC, and UPN affiliates and reaches approximately 24% of all U.S. television households.

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Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has been invited to participate. You can urge him to appear by calling his Washington, D.C. campaign headquarters at (202) 712-3000.

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Stations that will Air "A POW Story":
Baltimore WBFF Friday 10/22 8PM
Birmingham WTTO Friday 10/22 7PM
Buffalo WUTV Friday- 10/22 8PM
Cedar Rapids KGAN Friday 10/22 7PM
Champaign, IL WICD Friday 10/22 7PM
Charleston, SC WMMP Friday 10/22 8PM
Charleston, WV WCHS Friday 10/22 8PM
Cincinnati WSTR Friday 10/22 8PM
Columbus WSYX Friday 10/22 8PM
Dayton WKEF Friday 10/22 8PM
Des Moines KDSM Friday 10/22 7PM
Flint WSMH Friday 10/22 8PM
Greensboro WXLV Friday 10/22 8PM
Greenville/Asheville WLOS Friday 10/22 8PM
Kansas City KSMO Friday 10/22 7PM
Las Vegas KVWB Friday 10/22 8PM
Lexington WDKY Friday-10/22 8PM
Madison WMSN Friday-10/22 7PM
Milwaukee WVTV Friday-10/22 7PM
Minneapolis KMWB Friday-10/22 7PM
Nashville WZTV Friday 10/22 7PM
Norfolk WTVZ Friday 10/22 8PM
Oklahoma City KOKH Friday 10/22 7PM
Paducah KBSI Friday 10/22 7PM
Pensacola/Mobile WEAR Friday 10/22 7PM
Peoria WYZZ Friday 10/22 7PM
Pittsburgh WPGH Friday-10/22 8PM
Portland WGME Friday 10/22 8PM
Raleigh WLFL Friday 10/22 8PM
Richmond WRLH Friday-10/22 8PM
Rochester WUHF Friday 10/22 8PM
Sacramento KOVR Friday 10/22 7PM
St. Louis KDNL Friday 10/22 7PM
San Antonio KABB Friday 10/22 7PM
Springfield, MA WGGB Friday 10/22 8PM
Springfield, IL WICS Friday 10/22 7PM
Syracuse WSYT Friday 10/22 8PM
Tallahassee WTWC Friday 10/22 8PM
Tampa WTTA Friday 10/22 8PM
Tri Cities WEMT Friday 10/22 8PM
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http://www.anysoldier.com
http://www.operationac.com
Support our Soldiers!!

kimberly · PO2 Joined: 03 Sep 2004 Posts: 377

I believe that the first mistake in all this was 'announcing' way to soon that Sinclair would broadcast SH. I'm not certain whose decision that was or if it just 'leaked' but had they waited a bit longer to announce there would have been less time for the craziness to get out of control.

Right from the first time Hyman appeared on tv to discuss - to the very next time Hyman appeared, Sinclair's intentions for airing the show changed. I heard Hyman say that they would be running the entire show and were offering Kerry an opportunity of equal time for rebuttle. The second time Hyman appeared he changed his tune saying that only snipets (seconds even) of SH would be shown and Kerry or someone 'legitimate' of his choosing could participate for as much time as they wanted to rebuttle.

Shareholders are pressuring Sinclair. Sponsers are leaveing in droves. Their stocks have tanked. There has been rabid protesting by dems at the openings in theaters. If Sinclair actually does show even a portion of SH and includes Kerry time to rebuttle every snipet of SH they show, then they MUST include 'live' someone from SH to debate what Kerry says. If they allow someone from Kerry's camp to 'discredit' every piece of SH shown, the very reason for airing SH will be for naught and the honor of these great men will be stolen again. I am almost of the mindset that if they can't show the entire film, have Kerry AND a POW to debate the film, then they should not bother at all as it would be unfair and probably result in a 'disaster' of discredit and dishonor, again.

Kimberly