Home > Citizens Say Sinclair “Compromise” Is Not Good Enough
Activists Send 60,000 Letters to SBG Advertisers in 24 Hours
WASHINGTON Representatives of StolenAirTime.com today said that despite the slight improvement of the Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s position on forcing its 62 stations to air “Stolen Honor” a faux documentary attacking Kerry in the days before the election, it is still urging Sinclair’s advertisers to pull their ads from the network. Sinclair is still forcing 40 of its stations, many of them in swing states, to air parts of “Stolen Honor” one week before the election, Sinclair is making a multimillion dollar “donation” to the Bush/Cheney campaign, a violation of campaign finance law.
“We simply don’t trust Sinclair to play by the rules anymore,” said Debra Rosen, co-founder of www.StolenAirTime.com. “With their history of partisan behavior, we’re not sure of what they’ll do.”
Concerned citizens across the country have put pressure on Sinclair regarding this partisan decision. Activists sent over 60,000 emails to Sinclair’s advertisers through StolenAirTime.com in just 24 hours this week. While Sinclair has backed down from their attempts to air the entirety of “Stolen Honor” on all of its 62 stations, it still plans to air excepts of the documentary on 40 of the stations, including in the political swing states of Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
“We’re pleased that Sinclair is feeling the pressure from our 60,000 letters and phone calls to its advertisers, and from others working to keep them in check,” said Eve Fox, co-founder of StolenAirTime.com. “But they need to pull this “documentary” altogether before we’re satisfied.”
The list of notable advertisers on Sinclair stations includes Ford, Taco Bell, Walmart, Circuit City, Pfizer Inc., GEICO, General Mills, Wachovia Banks, Dunkin Donuts and Best Buy. Signees to the Stolen Air Time petition urge each company to avoid complicity in airing the right win propaganda and pledge to boycott their products if they do not.
The site was put together by Debra Rosen and Eve Fox, Senior eCampaigns Consultants at M&R Strategic Services, a public affairs firm based in Washington, DC. M&R’s expertise in internet advocacy and concern about this issue led to the creation of this independent campaign.