Chairman: FCC Can’t Block Anti-Kerry Film
The Federal Communications Commission doesn’t have authority to stop Sinclair Broadcast Group’s upcoming airing of a film that attacks Sen. John F. Kerry for his anti-Vietnam War activities, FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell said Thursday.
“Don’t look to us to block the airing of a program. I don’t know of any precedent in which the commission could do that,” Powell told reporters after a regular FCC meeting, according to Associated Press. It “would be an absolute disservice to the 1st Amendment, and I think it would be unconstitutional if we attempted to do so.”
Nineteen Democratic senators and 85 Democratic House members wrote to Powell earlier this week, asking him to investigate Sinclair’s upcoming broadcast of the 42-minute “Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal,” which features former prisoners of war in Vietnam who believe that Kerry’s antiwar activities prolonged their ordeal.
Sinclair, which has also asked Kerry to appear on the hourlong broadcast, owns or manages 62 stations nationwide, many in politically important swing states such as Ohio and Florida.
Democrats have charged that the broadcast would amount to a campaign attack ad coming so late in the election season.
Sinclair didn’t return calls for comment.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
