Those
familiar with the shenanigans of the 2004 Presidential campaign
may recall that Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG) was a force behind
attempts to smear Democratic contender John Kerry during his bid
for the presidency. In its most publicized act, Sinclair sought
to air the far-right film, "Stolen Honor", two weeks
prior to the election in order to, in the words of one of their
own employees,"to sway the election" to help the Republican
candidate preferred by Sinclair. While there is nothing wrong
with an individual or business supporting a candidate, the way
in which Sinclair does it is, in our view, a breach of ethics
and a misuse of our airwaves.
However,
the Sinclair story is more complex and even a bit sordid at times
(a warning to the more sensitive reader). In this page, we take
on the task of introducing Sinclair and why we consider it on
the cutting edge of forces leading our news media down a sad spiral
of incivility, unethical "reporting", and divisiveness
that tends to only further alienate and disengage citizens. In
those respects, Sinclair is doing an impressive job.
This
page is divided into several sections. Throughout, we present
how SBG has pushed the envelope on the national level and the
local scene.
Sinclair Broadcast Group,
a major owner of broadcast television stations, is headquartered
in Hunt Valley, Maryland, near Baltimore. With 61 stations (it
recently sold off its 62nd), it is among the largest owner of
stations and also the largest owner of "duopolies",
that is, pairs of stations located in the same market. The company's
roots began in 1971, when Julian Sinclair Smith purchased a UHF
station in Baltimore. In 1986, Smith's four sons founded Sinclair
Broadcast Group (SBG). Headed by David D. Smith, President and
CEO, the Smith brothers control over 95% of SBG's stock. According
to its website, SBG stations reach 24% of the American viewing
households.
Sinclair's
stations make up the largest network of stations owned by a
single corporation. Sinclair also has the most "duopolies"
(twin stations in the same market), another way in which diversity
is threatened.
SBG owns stations
affiliated with ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN, and WB networks. Because
these stations have maintained these various affiliations, Sinclair
is a little different than the other "fair and balanced"
network. It maintains a lower profile, so much so that viewers
may be unaware that their local station is not a CBS affiliate
in the traditional sense, but one tightly managed by Sinclai.
That's the case with KGAN, Channel 2, of Cedar Rapids, which has
been owned by Sinclair since July of 1999. Loyal viewers of Channel
2 have seen significant changes in KGAN's programming that have
also been observed in other Sinclair stations.
In Sinclair's
own words, a key to their business plan is to become "a major
consolidator in the industry" and they have done this in
some imaginative ways. In 1991, SBG came up with the "Local
Marketing Agreement" in which they can control a second station
in the same market without claiming outright ownership. In this
way, Sinclair became the largest owner of "duopolies",
by using a loophole in FCC rules meant to prevent duopolies. Sinclair
has been challenged by various groups for this questionable practice,
a practice SBG calls "visionary".
"We're
in the center. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the media is
left of center."
"There
are two companies doing truly balanced news today: Sinclair
and Fox."
David
Smith, CEO and President, Sinclair Broadcast Group (as reported
by Rolling Stone)
In
his interview with Rolling
Stone magazine, David Smith reportedly comes across as very
self-assured and outspoken, although reporters have noted that
he prefers to maintain a low public profile. Perhaps this is understandable,
as not all of his past activities would place him in the ranks
of the most respectful conservative civic leader. We elaborate
on this elsewhere, but note that
that report is tawdry in nature and may be objectionable to some
readers.
2.
Sinclair's Stolen Honor
Like their
philosophical brethren at Fox Television, Sinclair has been very
aggressive in promoting their political views on television. However,
Sinclair is a bit different in that they use the public's broadcast
airwaves to do so. Perhaps their most well-known act was their
plan to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal" two
weeks prior to the 2004 presidential election. This film was also
promoted by the anti-Kerry group "Swift Boat Veterans for
Truth" in an effort to negatively influence Senator Kerry's
campaign.
While the
Fairness Doctrine was no longer in effect (see the FCC
deregulation timeline), the FCC's Equal Time provision was.
This rule stipulates that, during election campaigns, candidates
of opposing parties must be given equal time on the air to prevent
bias toward one candidate. In its desire to promote their Republican
candidate, Sinclair simply claimed that "Stolen Honor"
was news and therefore not subject to the FCC's
Equal Time provisions. Although a large amount of public outcry
of this tactic ensued, Michael Powell, then head of the FCC, told
CNN, "Don't look to us to block the airing of a program".
Not only did
the Kerry campaign object, but so did the public. As reported
by Salon and Rolling Stone, media-reform groups organized boycotts
of SBG advertisers. Not only that, the company's stock fell more
than 15% and lost over $100 million within a 10 day period. Institutional
investors threatened to sue Sinclair for putting politics before
profits. Sinclair backed down, most likely because of the depressed
stock prices than for any newfound sense of journalistic ethics.
"Why
is it important that Sinclair Broadcasting be urged in
all lawful ways that can be imagined to reconsider its
decision to broadcast on its television stations the anti-Kerry
'documentary'?
Because
in a large, pluralistic information society democracy
will not work unless electronic media distribute reasonably
accurate information and also competing opinions about
political candidates to the entire population."
Former
FCC Commissioner Reed Hundt
(13
Oct 2004, in "Sinclair Ought to Know Better - And
So Should the FCC", the Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
Insider reports
at Sinclair have painted a picture of tension within Sinclair's
news organization. Jon Leiberman, the Washington Bureau chief
for Sinclair news, objected to what he saw was his company's misuse
of the public's airwaves. On Sunday, October 17, 2004, during
a mandatory meeting for all Sinclair's "News Central"
staff, Leiberman announced his opposition to the broadcast of
Stolen Honor. Leiberman was quoted as stating to his colleagues
that "Each and every one of us is going to lose our credibility
if we lend our voices and our writing and our faces to this product
that clearly isn't news." He continued: "It's propaganda.
It's meant to sway the election -- we've been told that by people
inside the company." (more on the movie Stolen Honor is available
from Salon.com here.)
Sinclair fired
Leiberman the day after he went public with his complaint. Later,
Leiberman was awarded a special Payne Award for ethics in journalism
by the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communications.
Sinclair CEO Smith publicly objected and urged that the Payne
award be withdrawn because Leiberman had signed a 'gag order'
that forbade him from talking with the press while an employee
of SBG. The Payne Award selection committee reconvened and responded
to Smith's letter by stating that Leiberman's concern for journalistic
ethics trumped any concern about a breech of a corporate confidentiality
agreement.
Sinclair has
continued to pursue Mr. Leiberman. In October 2005, Sinclair filed
suit in Baltimore County Circuit Court against Leiberman, claiming
$16,640 in so-called "liquidated damages", equal to
a percentage of his salary had he served out his contract.
"Fox
proved one thing: People like controversy.
I'd
do one of those Stolen Honor specials every month if we could.
The
lesson was very straightforward: That we
can do this kind of content, pre-empt the networks and
make more money."
Sinclair
CEO David Smith, as reported by Rolling Stone, 24 Feb 2005)
3.
Cut the Staff, Centralize the News
Sinclair has
vigorously pursued a policy of staff reductions at its stations.
A report by Salon.com (14 Oct 2004 edition) documented several
cut-to-the-bone staff reductions. For example, Sinclair fired
all 47 members of the news team of KDNL in St. Louis, rendering
that station among the first major-market stations without any
local news.
A similar
thing happened at Sinclair's Rochester, N.Y., station. Salon reported
that, according to Variety, CEO David Smith assembled all the
station's staff in the parking lot and, standing on top of a car,
read off the names of fired employees. He thereby eliminated the
entire news, weather and sports anchor team and half of the remaining
staff.
As reported
by Salon, Sinclair has similarly gutted local programming elsewhere.
For example, after buying WCWB (Pittsburgh), they eliminated the
station's three public-affairs programs, replacing them with so-called
infomercials (actually, commercials that run the length of a program
time slot).
It is clear
that Sinclair's pursuit of profits is done at the price of local
coverage of news and civic events. While obvious how such cost-cutting
serves Sinclair; it is difficult to see how this serves "the
public interest".
After gutting
local news, Sinclair would re-institute something billed as local
news, but with large portions of it actually created and beamed
from Sinclair's Maryland headquarters. Creating the aptly named
and Owellian sounding "News Central", Sinclair would
create its own non-local news content for their stations, thus
taking control of news selection away from personnel at the local
station. And they would take pains to maintain the illusion of
"local news". According to the Cincinnati Enquirer (May
5th, 2005 edition), As of mid 2005, Sinclair had 14 stations in
which it manufactured a "local news" program in Baltimore
and beamed it to stations. Sinclair has carefully dictated the
appearance of each stations' local news set so that it matches
the "NewsCentral" set in Baltimore.
A little
lonely on the news set
As the Cincinnati
Enquirer reported, the new anchor at WSTR, Kim Moening, sits alone
at her anchor desk in Cincinnati, acting as if she is part of
Morris Jones' anchor team. She does the usual across-anchor "hand
offs" with Jones. However, Morris Jones is in Maryland, at
News Central. The Sinclair-ordered identical news sets in the
Cincinnati and Baltimore studious provide an illusion and the
seamless "hand offs" add to the effect that, as the
Enquirer quoted Ms. Moening as saying, some viewers think her
virtual co-anchors were in Cincinnati with her. Even the Cincinnati
weather is forecasted from someone in Baltimore. The paper quoted
one viewer approving this brave new broadcast: "Kim pulls
the whole thing off and makes you believe that it is no different
than any other newscast." While the phrase "all politics
are local" may have some truth, local news is not necessarily
local.
While KGAN
still has a local news staff, it is small relative to that of
its Cedar Rapids competitor, as a quick comparison of their website
staff pages indicates. Furthermore, KGAN shares at least four
of its staff with its sister-Sinclair station, KDSM in Des Moines.
That includes sharing anchor Tiffany O'Donnell, who somewhat miraculously
appears as an anchor on KGAN, KDSM, and KFXA. It is perhaps no
accident that the biographical information about Ms. O'Donnell
that is offered on the KGAN website neglects to mention exactly
which city she lives in.
As in the
case of other Sinclair stations, KGAN has had its share of personnel
problems. IBLTV has learned that several KGAN employees were recently
fired or laid off, reportedly because of poor news ratings. Inspection
of the "help wanted" page on the Sinclair corporate
website confirmed that, at one point in May of 2005, KGAN was
looking for replacements in six different positions at KGAN.
4.
Sinclair to ABC stations: You will not air "The Fallen"
While Sinclair
was anxious to smear Senator Kerry by fabricating a story that
he killed a retreating Vietnamese, they were less interested in
honoring American soldiers who were killed in the Iraq war. The
ABC network announced that they would air a special edition of
their Nightline news program on 30 April 2004 to honor the U.S.
service personnel who had died in the Iraq war. The name of soldier
would be read on the air. Sinclair found this to be offensive
and told its eight ABC stations not to air the program. They perceived
this program to be anti-Bush propaganda and said as much. Barry
Faber, lead counsel for Sinclair stated "We find it to be
contrary to public interest".
Curiously,
Sinclair did not find it offensive when ABC aired a similar program
in which the names and images of all those who lost their lives
on September 11, 2001 were presented on the first anniversary
of that event.
We present
several letters that document the thoughts of Sinclair
According
to news sources such as CNN, the public response to Sinclair's
action was again negative.
Sinclair's action did not escape Senator John McCain, himself
a decorated war hero. He found Sinclair's actions "misguided",
"deeply offensive", and "unpatriotic". We
include correspondence from Sinclair, ABC News, and Senator McCain
that explain their points of view.
Click
on the panels to read the correspondence between ABC, Sinclair,
and Senator McCain on Sinclair's order not to air "The
Fallen"
Comment:
As Ted Remington has pointed out in his website, The
Counter Point, Sinclair often puts on a patriotic front and
releases many statements in support of the troops. However, that
support suddenly dies when Sinclair must choose between supporting
them and the political agenda of the president that they so strongly
advocate.
5.
Other Broadcast Abuses
While the
"Stolen Honor" incident received significant press coverage,
other ethical lapses by SBG did not receive much scrutiny. When
considered together, however, a pattern emerges of a company hell-bent
on a political agenda that favors extreme right-wing issues. Here
are a few other questionable Sinclair behaviors:
Required
support of the President. Just after the events of September
11, 2001 and during the run-up to President Bush's "war on
terrorism", SBG required its news anchors to air a statement
of loyalty to President Bush. As reported by the trade journal
"Broadcasting and Cable" (24 Sept 2001) and Salon (Oct.
14, 2004), Sinclair required newscasters to air the following:
"We
stand 100 percent behind the President in his vow that terrorism
must be stopped."
As reported
in Salon.com, this edict caused consternation within Sinclair
station newsrooms for its lack of journalistic objectivity. Anchors
felt they were put in a "no-win" situation: After all,
how could one not support the President at that
time? Yet reciting such a statement clearly violated the journalistic
standard of objectivity and independence from the government.
Two weeks
of anti-Kerry smears. More seriously, SBG was not content
with merely publicizing their anti-Kerry film, Stolen Honor. In
the last weeks leading up to the 2004 Presidential election, Sinclair
used its opinion segment called "The Point" to present
a series of segments highly critical of Democratic candidate Kerry.
The titles of these opinion pieces, aired in mid-late September,
reveal their bias:
Titles
of The Point aired over an 11 day period before the 2004
Presidential Election
"Kerry
& The Killing" 9/13/04
"Kerry
& The Three Weeks of Protest" 9/16/04
"Kerry
& The Medals" 9/21/04
"Kerry
& The Purple Heart" 9/14/04
"Kerry
& The Navy" 9/19/04
"Kerry
& The Communists" 9/22/04
"Kerry
& The Winter Soldier Investigation" 9/15/04
"Kerry
& The Oath" 9/20/04
"Kerry
& The Numbers" 9/23/04
While the
Navy's official record states that John Kerry earned the Silver
Star award for "...extraordinary daring and personal courage
... in attacking a numerically superior force in the face of intense
fire", Mr. Hyman accused Kerry of being guilty of "killing
a Vietnamese man" (13 Sept 2004 edition of The Point) and
that he killed a "wounded man as he retreated from battle."(25
Oct 2004 edition). As Media
Matters For America has documented,
Hyman's accusations are false, yet they were aired on the 62 SBG
stations on "The Point" just before the presidential
election. Mr. Hyman and Sinclair, oblivious to all else in their
desire to smear Kerry, somehow never considered the damage they
were inflicting on all veterans by calling into question the officially
reported bravery of those who served their country. One must conclude
that patriotism is a rather flexible concept.
6.
The Point - A Daily Abuse of Our Airwaves
"The
Point is a one-minute daily commentary that is intended to stimulate
public discourse. The Point encourages viewer feedback, and
every Saturday we air select viewer comments, both positive and
negative. In an age of homogenized, bland, politically correct
news, we are proud to deliver news and commentary that stimulates
critical thinking and encourages viewers to get involved."
Sinclair's
description of The Point
The
Point's Mark
Hyman
(Vice
President, Sinclair Broadcast Group)
From Sinclair's
description of The Point, one thing is certain from the perspective
of our group: It has indeed encouraged viewers to get involved.
As you'll see, however, The Point is virtually a one-sided screed
against perceived enemies and does not provide a meaningful debate.
The most visible
reminder of Sinclair's misuse of our airwaves comes in the form
of "The Point", the 1-2 minute program that is spliced
into the local news broadcasts of all of Sinclair's stations.
In Cedar Rapids, The Point appears three times daily,at the noontime,
5 pm, and 6 p.m. local news programs. According to Salon.com,
The Point began appearing on Sinclair stations shortly after the
September 11th bombings, limited at first to the stations fed
their news by NewsCentral to, eventually, all 62 of their stations.
Thus, stations like KGAN must make room during their local news
programs to fit The Point in the half-hour time slot.
UPDATE:
In the summer of 2005, KGAN reduced its local news coverage by eliminating
its 5 p.m. half-hour local news program, replacing it with "Extra",
a Hollywood gossip type program. Our characterization of KGAN's
evening news (described above) is therefore dated. However, as of
December 2005, KGAN was the only broadcast station available to
the Cedar Rapids / Iowa City region that so reduced its committment
to local news.
During Sinclair's
"The Point" segment, Sinclair Vice President Mark Hyman
provides a commentary that is slanted to the far right. As has
been documented by various sources (MediaMatters, Salon, TheCounterPoint,
RollingStone, etc.) the content of Hyman's lectures are highly
critical and uncivil toward views different than those of Sinclair's.
Thus, the French, who opposed President Bush's War on Iraq are
labeled "cheese-eating surrender monkeys", war critics
are "whack-jobs", Democrats critical of President Bush
are "unpatriotic politicians who hate our military"
and those with views to the left of Sinclair are habitually called
"the Angry Left" or the "hate-America crowd".
As in the
case of Sinclair's News Central downloads, there is no effort
to make it clear that Mr. Hyman's lecture is not just another
segment of the local news. In fact, several Iowans have commented
to IBLTV that they were wondered about this segment, thinking
that it originated at KGAN. Such confusion as to the origin of
Sinclair material included in local news programming has also
been cited in published reports.
Sinclair's
stated purpose of The Point, is a "one minute daily commentary"
to "stimulate public discourse" and "critical thinking".
In actuality, The Point takes up from 1 to 2 minutes of your local
news half-hour. Given the large number of falsehoods, distortions,
and smears uttered by Mr. Hyman on The Point (see The
Counter Point or Media Matters
for documentation), it is difficult to believe that "critical
thinking" can lead many to agree with Hyman's Point. Also,
Mr. Hyman unfortunately has a reliable tendency to brand his political
opponents as part of the "hate America crowd"; so it
is also difficult to see how any sense of civility or fairness
is promoted.
No meaningful
opportunity for differing or opposing viewpoints
Sinclair has
claims that it allows alternate viewpoints to be aired during
its "Mailbag" segment; like so many of Mr. Hyman's proclamations,
this is simply false. The Mailbag occurs on Saturdays, when viewership
of local news is at its traditional lowest. Furthermore, opposing
views are not stated, rather, Mr. Hyman himself selects snippets
of supposed viewer comments (the viewers are never identified
by last name or address). It is typical for him to choose several
"atta boy" comments that amplify his views and adding
no substance. Meanwhile, he'll include a few comments from "the
Angry left", but in a way that fails to advance any conversation.
Indeed, Hyman often cannot refrain from adding a belittling or
uncivil statement to the selected phrases that are supposedly
from those America haters. Again, this may increase the blood
pressure of viewers, but it is difficult to see how it stimulates
public discourse.
Perhaps The
Point is the best example of how, in our view, Sinclair Broadcast
Corporation abuses its use of the public airwaves. The direction
that Sinclair and its ilk is taking our country is only toward
more incivility, intolerance, and an increasing inability to appreciate
other views. There is too much unnecessary division in this country
and that division is crippling our ability to get things done.
References
"Beyond 'Fair and Balanced. Sinclair, the pro-Bush
broadcaster, is waging war on the "cheese-eating surrender
monkeys"' by ERIC KLINENBERG, Rolling Stone. Published February
24, 2005.
"Sinclair's disgrace." by Eric Boehlert,
www.Salon.com. Published Oct. 14, 2004. (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/14/sinclair/)
"Sleaze and smear at Sinclair" by Eric
Boehlert, www.Salon.com. Published Oct. 22, 2004
"Anchor feels right at home. Kim Moening helps
Channel 64 build a news operation from the ground up" Cincinnati
Enquirer, Thursday, May 5, 2005
"Sinclair sues the reporter who charged right-wing
bias a year ago" Nick Madigan, Baltimore Sun, October 20,
2005.
"Sinclair sues former D.C. bureau chief "
by Caryn Tamber, Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer, The Daily
Record, Vol 5, Number 396, October 19, 2005 (http://www.mddailyrecord.com/)
Letter to David Smith, CEO of
Sinclair Broadcast Group
from the Univerity of Oregon
School of Journalism and Communication
