From the NewsMax.com Staff

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Sinclair Thanks N.Y. Times

Sinclair Broadcast Group, which has been vilified in many places regarding its decision to air a special one-hour news program entitled "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media," was gratified to read an article published by the New York Times newspaper on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2004, advocating the broadcast of the documentary, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal."

The company issued a press release Friday noting that this the third news special of 2004:

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"Stolen Honor" will be discussed in the Sinclair news special, but it was erroneous news reports indicating that Sinclair intended to broadcast the documentary in its entirety which set off a recent controversy.

In an Article entitled "An Outpouring of Pain, Channeled Via Politics," New York Times television reviewer Alessandra Stanley opines that it is "too bad" that Sinclair is not airing the entire documentary.

In fact, although Ms. Stanley's review of the film is far from completely positive, she nonetheless expresses the view that "Stolen Honor" should not be shown by Sinclair, but rather "should be shown in its entirety on all the networks, cable stations and on public television."

Sinclair is pleased to note that the New York Times, which has generally been very negative about Sinclair's plans in regard to this documentary, employs at least one writer who continues to understand the importance of free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Further, an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal ("Sinclair and Watergate") commented unfavorably on the attempts to influence the press through a variety of pressure tactics, including threatened shareholder litigation.

While Sinclair, a staunch believer in the First Amendment, appreciates the sentiment of the Journal's editorial stance, we take exception with the inference that our failure to broadcast "Stolen Honor" in its entirety resulted from our having "bent under enormous political pressure."

In fact, as noted in a separate article also in today's Wall Street Journal, "Political Shows Prove Costly to Sinclair CEO," Sinclair had never confirmed reports that it was planning to air the entire documentary and actually posted a message on its corporate website stating: "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."

Sinclair's "A POW Story" aired Friday night and included not only interviews with the creator and some of the former POWs featured in the "Stolen Honor" documentary, but also interviews with Richard Klass, president of the Veterans Institute for Security and Democracy, an organization that has filed against Sinclair at the Federal Communications Commission; George Butler, the director of the documentary "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry," considered a very favorable presentation of Sen. Kerry's war record; and Bobby Muller, a Vietnam War veteran who the Kerry campaign recommended Sinclair include in its news special.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
2004 Elections
B.G. Burkett - Stolen Valor
Sen. John Kerry

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