Anti-Kerry Film Gets Vast Airing

“Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal,” the anti-Sen. John F. Kerry film that caused a furor when the Sinclair Broadcast Group planned to televise it before the election, received a wide airing over the weekend when a conservative media group bought infomercial time on the broadcast network Pax to show the movie.

Although Sinclair ultimately scuttled its plan to run the film in its entirety, the 42-minute “Stolen Honor” was aired 10 times over the weekend on Pax, which reaches 90% of U.S. homes with televisions, according to a news release from NewsMax.com, a conservative news website based in Florida.

NewsMax paid for the air time to run the film, in which former POWs say Kerry, a decorated veteran, prolonged their Vietnam ordeal with his antiwar activities after he returned from active duty.

In addition, NewsMax paid for airings on select TV stations affiliated with other networks, but it didn’t name them. Some stations airing the film over the weekend were owned by Sinclair, according to viewer complaints on several websites.

Sinclair had planned to air the film, by former journalist Carlton Sherwood, on about 60 of its stations last weekend, reaching nearly 25% of the nation’s homes with televisions.

After an outcry by Democrats and a threatened advertiser boycott, Sinclair instead broadcast a news special, “A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media,” which included about five minutes of the film.

NewsMax officials could not be reached for comment Sunday night.

The group’s website, which describes the company as a “for-profit corporation dedicated to informing Americans to the truth the major media won’t report,” has been soliciting donations to pay for the “Stolen Honor” airings. It was not disclosed how much it paid.

Pax, which offers family oriented programming, sells much of its non-prime air time for “paid programming.” NBC has a minority ownership stake in Pax parent Paxson Communications Corp., but the two have been feuding financially.

Separately, Dish Network said it would offer the film on a pay-per-view basis today.