The Sinclair Broadcast Group, facing increasing pressure from shareholders and advertisers over its plans to broadcast a documentary critical of John Kerry's antiwar activities more than 30 years ago, said Tuesday it would not show the film in its entirety.
Instead, the company announced it would use excerpts from the film, Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal, as part of an hourlong news program examining how this and other politically charged documentaries seek to influence voters, and how the news media has reported on their content. It was unclear how much of the 42-minute film Sinclair plans to use in its program, A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media.
Sinclair, the nation's largest television station group, also said the special would appear tomorrow night on 40 of the 62 stations it owns or operates, many of them in swing states including Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. Originally, Sinclair planned to broadcast the program on most if not all of the stations over several nights this week, depending on the city, according to spokesmen for three of the broadcast networks affected by the pre-emptions.
In a news release on Tuesday, Sinclair said that, contrary to numerous reports, it had never announced it would show the film in full. The company declined further comment.
Last week, a company spokesman, Mark Hyman, who also serves as a conservative commentator on newscasts on Sinclair stations, defended the company's intention to use the film. "Clearly, John Kerry has made his Vietnam service the foundation of his presidential run," Hyman told The New York Times. "This is an issue that is certainly topical."
But since Sinclair's decision to use the documentary became public, the company has been caught in a hornet's nest of protest involving shareholders, advertisers and consumer interest groups vowing to contest the company's license renewals with the Federal Communications Commission.
The company, already suffering from a sluggish advertising market, has had its stock price fall by almost 17 percent and its market capitalization drop by US$140 million in the last week and a half.
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