Sinclair Says Won't Show Entire Anti-Kerry Film

By Martha Graybow NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the nation's largest owner of TV stations, said on Tuesday it would only air part of a documentary critical of Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam war record, as critics demanded it cancel the broadcast altogether or face legal action.

Sinclair has drawn fire over its plans to air the 42-minute documentary "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," about the Democratic presidential candidate on its more than 60 TV stations on Friday, less than two weeks before the Nov. 2 election.

Furious Democrats have charged that the documentary was a blatant political statement disguised as news and have demanded equal air time from Sinclair, whose top executives have been major contributors to President Bush and Republicans in recent years.

Sinclair said it would not show the entire Kerry documentary, which accuses the senator of betraying fellow Vietnam veterans by testifying to Congress in 1971 against the war and about atrocities he said were committed by U.S. forces.

Sinclair said it would air a special program on Friday called "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media" that includes a discussion of the allegations surrounding Kerry's anti-Vietnam War activities.

"The experience of preparing to air this news special has been trying for many of those involved," the Baltimore, Maryland-based broadcaster said. "The company and many of its executives have endured personal attacks of the vilest nature, as well as calls on our advertisers and our viewers to boycott our stations and on our shareholders to sell their stock."

Sinclair operates in 39 markets that include battleground states Florida and Ohio.

KERRY CONTROVERSY

Sinclair's shares have fallen amid the Kerry controversy and uncertain advertising revenues. Its stock has fallen almost 17 percent since its plans to air the show were first reported more than a week ago. The shares are down 58 percent in the year to date, and were off 3.5 percent to $6.26 on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a powerful shareholder lawyer with strong ties to the Democratic party, San Diego-based William Lerach, accused three top Sinclair executives of insider trading and threatened to sue the company if its board of directors does not take legal action itself against the executives.

Lerach, a Democratic Party fundraiser, said the accusations were not politically motivated and were spurred by requests from shareholder clients, including the pension fund for 1199 SEIU Greater New York, a health care workers union, to investigate Sinclair's recent stock declines.

"We are equal opportunity suers," he said. Lerach accused Sinclair vice presidents Frederick G. Smith and J. Duncan Smith, and board member Robert E. Smith of selling thousands of shares of Sinclair in late 2003 and early 2004, just before shares began to fall.

He said the accusations were based on studying publicly available documents of stock sales.

"We have discovered that senior executives and a director of Sinclair appear to have taken advantage of their inside knowledge of the company's business and prospects to sell over $18.5 million worth of Sinclair stock," Lerach said in a letter to the board.

The company's statement did not address the Lerach's accusations and a company representative was not immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, a group called Media Matters for America said it was underwriting costs for a Sinclair shareholder, the investment firm Glickenhaus & Co., to demand the broadcaster provide an opportunity for a response to the "Stolen Honor" show. Glickenhaus holds about 6,100 Sinclair shares, according to Media Matters.

Sinclair reportedly fired its Washington bureau chief on Monday after he accused the company of "indefensible" conduct for planning to air the anti-Kerry film. The company issued a statement calling the journalist, Jon Lieberman, a "disgruntled employee," according to The Washington Post.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington and Arthur Spiegelman in Los Angeles)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=6547605&src=rss/Entertainment&section=news

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