ECKLEBURG
2004-10-22 - 10:55 p.m.
So I felt so enraged at Sinclair Broadcasting group and their shamefaced attempt to make an anti-Kerry smear and force it down their affiliates' throats as "news" that I had to complain to the FCC. I am not holding my breath for Michael Powell to call me up and tell me he is getting right on it, but it made me feel better.
Deep breath, this fevered election pitch can't last much longer.
To whom it may concern,
I watched "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media" by Sinclair Broadcasting and their FOX affiliate "FOX 45" tonight and I would like to register a complaint.
What was masquerading, as news was very clearly a veiled political ad for George Bush and against John Kerry. Repeatedly accusations, innuendo, and unflattering points regarding John Kerry were magnified and given the majority of the time,, prominence, and focus of the show. The negative points against George Bush were obfuscated and minimized to the point of being completely mitigated. The "debates" and "responses" involving Kerry supporters were quite clearly arranged in such a way as to ensure that the "Democratic response" was ineffective.
The show was clearly arranged in such a way as to maximize anti-Kerry sentiments from its viewers while attempting to give just enough window dressing of disingenuous appearance of "balanced reporting" to trick the FCC and other protectors of our airwaves that this was news rather than an hour long political ad.
In claiming that such a program is news, they ask you to take such a wide view of the definition of "news" within the laws and regulations that you help enforce, that the term would become meaningless. Our laws, and consumers like me who receive our television over the airwave you regulate, depend on true, legitimate news to be identifiable from political partisan advocacy, so that it can be treated with more trust and protection. Allowing this show to be considered a news program obliterates this distinction, and allows Sinclair to ignore the fairness doctrine and the Zapple doctrine, which hurts us all.
As Americans, we have seen these types of attempts to mask partisanship and intolerance in fake fairness and balance before -- The McCarthy hearings, the criminal trials of many African Americans in the late 18th and early 20th century, even the Salem witch trials. Each time, one group’s agenda was allowed to take the mask of fairness and uprightness, and each time injustice occurred and America suffered.
Please don't let Sinclair Broadcasting fool you, don't legitimize their propaganda by allowing it to be considered news. Please be forceful in your response and award the opposing side equal time to present their own side of the story.
Sincerely,
Eckleburg and Grumblecake
