http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/12/ltm.04.htmlHEMMER: Democrats also crying foul over the decision by Sinclair Broadcasting over a documentary attacking John Kerry on its stations just before the election. Question this morning: Is this news, or is it just propaganda?
Mark Hyman is the vice president for corporate relations for the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, and he is my guest now. And Mark, welcome. Good morning to you.
MARK HYMAN, SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP: Good morning, Bill. Thank you very much.
HEMMER: What's the motivation behind this airing now?
HYMAN: Well, this is definitely a newsworthy event. These Vietnam prisoners of war had suffered horrific abuse and unspeakable torture for many years. And they -- most of them maintained silence for 31 years and felt a need to respond to claims made by John Kerry.
They have only recently come forward and, as you may know, they've approached the broadcast networks who all said, "We're not interested in speaking to you folks." Nobody has earned a right to speak on the Vietnam experience more so than these men. There are a pair of Medal of Honor winners in this particular group. So, these folks have some standing.
Now, our goal here is to get John Kerry to sit down and talk with these guys, get a chance to tell them why he branded them as war criminals, why he accused them of committing wartime atrocities. These are questions...
HEMMER: Let's see clear here. You've invited Senator Kerry to follow up on this film, right?
HYMAN: The only thing that's carved in stone with this entire program is we've invited John Kerry. The ball is really in his court. If he decides he wants to spend two hours with us, then it's going to change the whole format is how we...
HEMMER: At this point, have you gotten a response from the Kerry campaign?
HYMAN: The Kerry campaign has not responded to us directly. We're still hopeful that they may change their minds and join us, because we think it's an important debate issue that needs to be addressed.
HEMMER: Well, we don't really need to tell you the Democrats are fuming about this issue. Listen to Terry McAuliffe from last hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY MCAULIFFE, DNC CHAIRMAN: This is a clear, partisan attack on Senator Kerry, and they offer the opportunity for Senator Kerry to come on after the 90 minutes and talk. Now, we'd be interested if they would give us 90 minutes at primetime, also. But understand, Bill, they are preempting all of their shows a week before the election to do a 90-minute attack on Senator Kerry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Democrats say this is illegal. Clearly, you do not. Why not?
HYMAN: Well, a couple of issues. First of all, we haven't even looked at a 90-minute program. But if John Kerry wants to spend 45 minutes or an hour with us, maybe we have a 90-minute program. Again, no formal format has been decided upon.
However, the accusations coming from Terry McAuliffe and others, is it because they are some elements of this that may reflect poorly on John Kerry? That it's somehow an in-kind contribution of George Bush?
If you use that logic and reasoning, that means every car bomb in Iraq would be an in-kind contribution to John Kerry. Weak job performance ratings that came out last month would have been an in- kind contribution to John Kerry. And that's just nonsense.
This is news. I can't change the fact that these people decided to come forward today. The networks had this opportunity over a month ago to speak with these people. They chose to suppress them. They chose to ignore them. They are acting like Holocaust deniers, pretending these men don't exist.
HEMMER: Mark, let me try and cut through this a little bit. Is there a bias at Sinclair against John Kerry?
HYMAN: Why would you say that? Because we're presenting a side...
HEMMER: I'm just asking it. Is there, or not?
HYMAN: I certainly hope not. There shouldn't be. There are going to be people who are going to want to get this story out. We want to get this story out.
I think the question should be asked of the networks: Why aren't they talking about this issue? Probably perhaps more importantly: Why won't John Kerry speak with these Vietnam POWs? He has been avoiding them for 31 years. If he's afraid of a bunch of 60 and 70- year-old men who were wounded and tortured in Vietnam, what does it say about his ability to respond to al Qaeda if they were to attack the U.S. if he were serving as president?
If he's afraid of Americans -- you know, what's the story here? Why can't he sit down and speak with these Americans who deserve to have their voice heard?
HEMMER: The reason I asked the question about bias, why not allow the individual stations to make up their own mind on this?
HYMAN: Because you know better, Bill, and don't be absurd about this whole thing. Just like Sears tells all of its stores, "You will sell Craftsman tools." McDonald's tells all of its restaurants, "You will have a sesame seed bun." That's the business we're in.
We make programming decisions on a day-to-day basis. We sell advertising on a day-to-day basis. This is the way networks operate. This is the way all television stations operate. This is the way most businesses operate when you have a number of affiliates or a number of franchises. It's the way the business operates.
To suggest that our TV stations are all simply stand-alone franchises and the local general manager can make any decision he wants about the program he carries is actually factually incorrect. Because CBS News has -- rather CBS network, as an example, makes certain all of its stations carry CBS programming, not ABC's "The Bachelor."
HEMMER: Let me try and go back to April, then, for a second here. "Nightline," when ABC and Ted Koppel aired all the dead in Iraq to date back in April, Sinclair had a big problem with it, ordered at least seven stations, I believe -- if I have my facts right here -- not to air "Nightline" that evening. Sinclair believed that was a political statement disguised as news.
Can you understand how some may see the same act now the same way?
HYMAN: Well, that wasn't us that made that original decision. That was George Stephanopoulos who announced on his program that is was a political decision. He said this was aired -- this was going to be aired to coincide with the president's "mission accomplished" statement.
George Stephanopoulos, five days earlier, said on his program -- he made it very clear this was a political statement. We asked ABC News what are your intentions; they refused to speak to us. So, that certainly created -- heightened our concerns about their intention behind this program.
But let's get back to the real issue at stake, which is these prisoners of war. They have earned their right to be heard more than...
HEMMER: All right.
HYMAN: ... anybody else when it comes to Vietnam. John Kerry can put this whole issue to rest if he simply decides to sit down and speak with these people...
HEMMER: OK.
HYMAN: ... address their concerns. He can put this entire issue to rest.
HEMMER: We've got to go. Mark, thanks.
HYMAN: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Mark Hyman, Sinclair Broadcast Group there in Hunt Valley, Maryland, this morning. Thanks.
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