It is my understanding that you are an advertiser for a station in my area, WGME-TV in Portland, ME. I am writing you to let you know that, along with many others, am very upset with the actions of the owners of this station, the Sinclair Broadcast Group. As you may have heard in the news ( http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/12/kerry.program/index.html ), Sinclair has made a corporate decision to force its local affiliates to pre-empt primetime programming and air a “documentary” called “Stolen Honor.” WGME-TV plans to air the documentary on Saturday, Oct. 23, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. The movie is highly critical of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, specifically his anti-war activities following his return from Vietnam.
I am not alone in my anger about this event, The Democratic National Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday contending that Sinclair’s airing of the film should be considered an illegal in-kind contribution to President Bush’s campaign. Also, 20 Democratic senators sent a letter to the Federal Communication Commission asking that it investigate whether Sinclair’s plan was an improper use of public airwaves. Clearly Sinclair has a political agenda and this is just another example of how they are using this “news” piece to push it forward. While some argue this is just free speech, I believe it is a partisan abuse of the trust we put in our broadcasters fair use of the public airwaves.
I have written to Sinclair and WGME directly but have only received canned answers and I believe the only way to get their attention and to make it clear that this action is unacceptable to do what I can to affect their income from advertising dollars. I bring this controversy to your attention because while Sinclair is persuing this course of action, and while your business continues to support an affiliate of Sinclair, I will unfortunately have to cease doing any business with your company and I will advise my friends to do the same.
I know I am not alone in my anger on this issue, and I am sure you are receiving letters from other Maine residents and other US citizens who are upset with this action.
I realize that you may also disagree with this decision by Sinclair and may be innocently stuck in the middle on this issue. I would appreciate it if you would let the folks at WGME know that you are being affected by this action by Sinclair.
Thank you for your time, I hope this issue is resolved soon.
-Matt
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Matthew J. H. Baya
85 Guptill Farm Road, Ellsworth, ME 04605-4109
H: (207) 667-4892
e-mail: matt@baya.net
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