Sinclair's Final Program a 'Last Minute Wonder' Slapped Together Just Hours before Show Time

The final version of Sinclair's attempt at an anti-Kerry show was, we are told, slapped together Friday, barely finished by the 8:00 EST airing time. The Smith brothers, realizing the depth of public anger, tried to change the show sufficiently to make it look as if they were only "martyrs for free speech," and to con the public into thinking that Democrats were getting into a huff over nothing. The program actually ended up including a balance of comments from Kerry and footage of a pro-Kerry film.

But this was absolutely NOT in the program that existed by about Wednesday or even as late as Thursday. AP writer David Caruso, in fact, had previewed the film and found it outrgeously slanted, lacking even one pro-Kerry perspective - or even an historic perspective. That version must have been scrapped pretty much completely. But it isn't surprising - what with all the lawsuits coming in! It was typical of Sinclair slant (they just couldn't get away from it, even in the "transformed show!") that while they mentioned that "Kerry lawyers" had sued them to stop the airing of the original, they never mentioned that they were also being sued by George Butler, the man who directed "Going Up River" (the story of Kerry's service in Vietnam) . Seems Sinclair didn't bother to ask permission for some images - they simply stole them.

The transformation of the program was a feverish one: it, said one person "not even an overnight wonder - it was an over four-hours wonder!" As a result, it was rough in places - the opening footage and some of the editing seemed like old-style like home movie material! As clear evidence of the last-minute slap-together nature of the final film, footage from an incident at a theater in Pennsylvania that occurred on Wed. or Thursday and was only aired on the news for the first time on Thursday night, was spliced into the program. The idea, we hear, was to try to give the impression that 'Stolen Honor' - a lame home-movieish effort -is as big a deal as " Fahrenheit 9/11." Rumor has it that the PA theater incident, which shows what are supposed to be near-fist-fights between Kerry and Bush supporters, was a phony, staged event, complete with hired performers planted in the gathering. In any case, we can vouch for the last-minute footage insert:one of the Democrats.com editors actually saw that footage on the local Sinclair news affiliate station (FOX 45) on Thursday night!

Most Sinclair employees were embarrassed over the attempted hijacking of the airwaves by their company big wig. Those who support Kerry said it was as if they were being forced to participate in a pro-Bush rally.

One Sinclair employee even wrote an impassioned letter to StopSinclair.org, describing their fears over how the Smith brothers were ruining the company and thereby putting stockholders and employees into financial danger.

So be kind to the Sinclair employees in your area! They want you to know they were just as angry as everyone else and are just relieved it's all over and that their bosses finally caved to pressure.

In the end, the entire Smith Brothers/Carlton Sherwood fiasco back-fired beyond their wildest fears. First, the company dropped $90 million between stock and advertising it will likely never fully recoup. Then, in the end, they were forced to give a balanced program which ended up doing just what the Bush-Kerry debates did: made Kerry look good by contrast. Last, in the days when the world believed the unbalanced program was going to air, Kerry was asked to come onto Monday's "Today" show for an interview with Katie Couric so he could present his side of the issue. Nice work, Smith boys!

The bottom line is, no matter how half-arsed the final Sinclair production was, the company was forced to yield to the American public's demand for fairplay. It proves that Americans DO have a voice when they choose to use it, even against the most arrogant corporations.