October 18, 2004

Sinclair Megapost

I'm not sure if we've covered this and I'm too lazy to scroll through the page to check so here's a brief history of the Sinclair controversy and some new stuff too (a lot of links come from Josh Marshall, who's been at the front of this story, but each link is to a different story):

Ok, so Sinclair Broadcasting owns a buch of local TV stations and has given a bunch of money to Republicans. They recently decided to order their stations to show a movie from the Swifties in lieu of their regular broadcasting schedule.

Well it's starting to look like the tide has turned on Sinclair. They were warned that putting politics ahead of business was asking for trouble, and it looks like not listening has put the hurt on their stock. Potentially worse, if Michael Powell (Chairman of the FCC and Colin Powell's son for those that didn't know) manages to put politics aside for a second and listens to former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, Sinclair may be required to play an equal amount of time with pro-Kerry messages which would defeat the very reason they wanted to push the Swifty movie, to give Bush an edge in the media. Granted, this probably won't happen given Powell's history at the FCC, but when you have your own employees speaking out against you you're in trouble. Finally, a concerted effort by the internet community to call companies which advertise on Sinclair stations and complain has started to be yet another thorn in Sinclair's side.

My advice is to find any undecided voter and make them watch this. Nothing the Swifties or Sinclair can say will mean anything after you see that.

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