DURBIN VS. DOCUMENTARY
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois and 15 other Democratic senators complained Monday to the Federal Communications Commission that a program to be shown on the Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s local television stations is a “blatantly partisan attack” against Sen. John Kerry.
In a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, the senators argued that “Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal” should not be classified as news programming and therefore violated “the spirit . . . of fairness regulations.”
The 42-minute documentary deals with Kerry’s record during the Vietnam War and makes many of the same charges as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, some of whose allegations have been discredited.
Sinclair, the country’s largest local television chain, plans to run at least part of the documentary on its 62 stations before the Nov. 2 election.
Some Sinclair stations are in closely contested states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. It owns three stations in Illinois–WICS-TV in Springfield, WICD-TV in Champaign and WYZZ-TV in Bloomington–and two other stations that broadcast into southern Illinois: WDKA-TV in Paducah, Ky., and KBSI-TV in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Attempts to speak with a company representative at Sinclair’s headquarters in Hunt Valley, Md., were unsuccessful. But a company official told The Associated Press that Sinclair would run part or all of the film, as well as a panel discussion about it.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps called the plan “proof positive of media consolidation run amok.”
“Stolen Honor” was produced by Carlton Sherwood, a former reporter for the conservative Washington Times.
–Leon Lazaroff
47 MILLION OPINIONS
Nearly 47 million people watched President Bush and Sen. John Kerry in their second debate in St. Louis on Friday night, according to Nielsen Media Research.
That’s a 25 percent drop from the first presidential debate in Coral Gables, Fla., which drew 62.5 million viewers. It is, however, 3 million more than the number that watched the vice presidential debate last week.
–John Cook
RED ROCKIN’
The temperature is rising on the campaign trail, even as the first chilly gusts of winter blow through the red rocks west of Denver.
But it’s not only the candidates who are turning it up.
Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-Colo.) opened for President Bush on Monday before several thousand people seated at dusk in the outdoor Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
“I don’t know about you,” Beauprez told the crowd, “but I’m about ready to have John Kerry shut up.”
–Mark Silva
CANDIDATE CLOONEY
With more than a little help from Hollywood, Nick Clooney–father of actor George Clooney–has emerged as a political force in Kentucky.
The longtime TV newsman is looking to succeed retiring Rep. Ken Lucas, the state’s lone Democratic congressman. He is running against Geoff Davis, the GOP nominee who lost to Lucas in 2002.
Nick Clooney, 70, said he hadn’t considered politics until Lucas contacted him last year. “I looked into my heart and decided that it was time for me to give back to my home state and my hometown,” Clooney said.
The former Los Angeles anchorman and onetime host on American Movie Classics grew up in Maysville–part of the 4th Congressional District, which stretches along the Ohio River from the West Virginia border to the Louisville suburbs. Nick Clooney, who returned to his home state about 30 years ago, was writing a column for the Cincinnati Post and working for a cable channel aimed at older viewers when he agreed to run.
Davis, a 45-year-old business consultant, was raised in Pittsburgh and served as an Army Ranger. He has lived in the district for about 10 years.
“My 5-year-old son’s been telling everyone: `My daddy’s gonna beat Batman’s daddy,'” Davis said. “It’d be easier to do so if [Nick] Clooney wasn’t so well-known and didn’t have all that Hollywood money to help him.”
People connected to the movie industry–including Kevin Costner, Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito and Paul Newman–have given a total of $170,000 to Clooney’s campaign.
–Los Angeles Times
