We Have a Winner!

Columbia Journalism Review honors Sinclair Broadcast Group with a much deserved award: their first annual Ben Bagdikian Media Monopoly Award.

As the world is learning this week, Sinclair owns or operates 62 television stations that collectively reach 24 percent of the American market. Some of those stations are in swing states in the razor-thin presidential race. The company, not normally known for journalistic enterprise, decided that it would be a good idea in the few remaining days before November 2 to air large chunks of "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," a highly partisan (and disputed) documentary attacking John Kerry's antiwar activities after he got back from Vietnam. Sinclair is packaging "Stolen Honor" as news and directing 40 of its stations to run a program about it, uninterrupted, in prime time Friday night.