New Direction
I’ve been writing occasional letters to representatives, editors, etc.
In response to this editorial about the Sinclair Broadcast Group’s plan to force its affilates to preempt prime time programming for an hour-long anti-Kerry attack ad masquerading as a documentary, I did these 150 words.
Your editorial “Fairness door swings both ways” is off base. Whether it’s OK for Sinclair Broadcast Group to force its stations to air the “Stolen Honor” special is not a First Amendment issue.
Sinclair uses public airwaves to broadcast. Our airwaves are an extremely valuable property of the American people. Sinclair is allowed to use part of this property of ours for free – unlike, for instance, cell phone companies, who pay us for the portion of the airwaves they use.
This amounts to a taxpayer subsidy of Sinclair. But it’s not corporate welfare,
because we demand payback. Part of our payback is that Sinclair has an obligation to help us hold a fair election. If they broadcast propaganda right before the election, they are ripping off the American people. This “public interest” obligation has been upheld by the Supreme Court, and doesn’t conflict with the First Amendment.