From Antidotal earlier this month: as of 9 April, since becoming President Bush had spent 500 days at one of his three retreats (Texas, Maine, Camp David). That’s more than 40% of his presidency.
With a war on.
Monthly Archives: April 2004
Sinclair backstory
The New York Times reported Friday that
Sinclair, which owns 62 television stations in 39 markets, also made news in September 2001, when it ordered news personnel at its Baltimore station to read patriotic statements supporting President Bush.
A net search reveals these reports from the time:
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McCain on Nightline
Senator John McCain has weighed in on today’s war coverage controversy, calling Sinclair’s ban of tonight’s Nightline special “unpatriotic.”
His letter also says:
I supported the president’s decision to go to war in Iraq, and remain a strong supporter of that decision. But every American has a responsibility to understand fully the terrible costs of war and the extraordinary sacrifices it requires of those brave men and women who volunteer to defend the rest of us.
More on Sinclair, Nightline
As the world turns (literally), the Sinclair/Nightline story is making its way around the globe. At this writing, news.google.com shows 342 stories. Let’s take a look at a few:
– The Guardian leads with an error in graph one. Yes, Sinclair owns stations reaching 24% of the US population. But most of its stations are FOX, not ABC.
– Sam Roberts, the Frances L. Wolfson chair and broadcast journalism professor at the University of Miami School of Communication told the Miami Herald that this could “easily be interpreted as a pro-Bush policy move on [Nightline's] part, because it honors the armed forces. That’s if you were going to read into it a political motive, which I don’t. I’m really astonished by this reaction.”
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Sinclair bans Nightline
Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns TV stations reaching 24% of the US population, has banned its ABC-affiliates from carrying Friday night’s Nightline because it finds the show “contrary to public interest.”
The show will air a tribute to fallen soldiers by showing the names and photos of servicemen and women killed in Iraq — currently 533 killed in action and 204 killed in “nonhostile” incidents.
The news made its way through the blogosphere. (I started with BOP and DailyKOS, then went to Newberry for Congress and finally to Poynter, which has the full statement from ABC news and Sinclair.)
There is a grassroots campaign afoot according to comments on BOP and Eschaton.
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