I think it's kind of slimy that the Sinclair Broadcasting Group is ordering its stations to air an anti-Kerry documentary just before the election. And though I never like to judge something I haven't seen, it appears that the film in question is of dubious accuracy. Every time I hear something from those "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" and their allied organizations, my already-low appraisal of their credibility sinks lower. I think that, like certain talk radio hosts, they're just feeding bogus reasons to a segment of the population that's so desperate to hate the War Hero that they'll accept just about anything.
That said, I am also uncomfortable with the current efforts to pressure Sinclair's advertisers to withhold their dollars in ways that might then pressure Sinclair into changing its plans. I wish Sinclair would change its plans but I also do not like the idea of holding advertisers too responsible for the content of programming. They don't make the shows, they don't generally pre-screen the shows and they often buy ad time in bulk and don't even select the shows in which their commercials appear. I sure wouldn't like it if sponsors felt that since they're going to be blamed for what occurs on programs that air their ads, they have to get more involved in supervising scripts, casting, etc. The number one reason that TV execs play it safe or excise material that might offend someone from a show is that they're afraid the advertisers will flee…so I don't like the whole idea of encouraging them to flee, whether it's from this Kerry smear or that Reagans movie or anything.
In this case, heat is being applied to advertisers who have nothing to do with the attack on John Kerry. They're merely buying commercial time elsewhere on the station, presumably because they think it's good for their businesses…and most of them bought it before this whole matter came up. If I were the head of such a company, I'd answer the protests with a simple form letter that said, "We're only responsible for the content of our own commercials. We neither endorse nor condemn all that other stuff on the network that we have nothing to do with."