More Sinclair family values. http://www.atrios.blogspot.com/2004_04_25_atrios_archive.html#108335351404593578 Friday, April 30, 2004 Republican Values Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania) August 17, 1996, Saturday, SOONER EDITION David D. Smith, president and chief executive officer of Sinclair Broadcast Group, was arrested this week in his hometown of Baltimore and charged with a misdemeanor sex offense. Sinclair owns WPGH, the Fox affiliate in Pittsburgh, and programs most of WPTT. The Baltimore Sun reported that Smith, 45, was arrested Tuesday night in an undercover sting at a downtown corner frequented by prostitutes. On Thursday night, Sinclair issued a statement that Smith's arrest was unrelated to company business and ''The company will continue to operate under the direction of its current management.'' ...more Broadcasting official charged in sex stakeout Sinclair president, woman arrested in company car Published on: August 15, 1996 Edition: FINAL Section: NEWS Page: 2B Byline: SUN STAFFPeter Hermann 372 The president of Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which owns the local Fox television affiliate, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with committing a perverted sex act in a company-owned Mercedes, city police said. David Deniston Smith, 45, of the 800 block of Hillstead Drive in Timonium, who also is Sinclair's chief executive, was arrested in an undercover sting at Read and St. Paul streets, a downtown corner frequented by prostitutes, Baltimore police said yesterday. Smith and Mary DiPaulo, 31, were charged with committing unnatural and perverted sex act. Smith was held overnight at the Central Booking and Intake Center and released on personal recognizance at 2 p.m. yesterday. DiPaulo's bail status was not available. Officials at WBFF-TV (Fox 45) and Sinclair, one of the fastest-growing broadcasting companies in the nation with 28 television and 34 radio stations, would not comment yesterday. The company had $126 million in sales in the first half of this year. Police said undercover Officer Gary Bowman, on a prostitution detail, was talking to DiPaulo about 9: 15 p.m. in a car at St. Paul and Read streets. She left the undercover car after telling Bowman that ``she had just seen her regular date driving in the area,'' according to court documents. Police said DiPaulo ran across the street to a 1992 Mercedes, registered to Sinclair, and got in on the passenger side. Police followed the car onto the Jones Falls Expressway, where they said they witnessed the two engage in oral sex while Smith drove north. Police said they followed the car back to Read and St. Paul streets, where they arrested Smith and DiPaulo, who lives in the 700 block of Washington Blvd.
It goes without saying. If anyone here needs explanation to decipher whether Sinclair Broadcast is "right" leaning or ABC's nightline show is intended to generate an arousal from its audience, then I am sorry for that person.
Did anyone else watch Nightline last night? My wife and I did. We thought it was very moving and very sad. It was an excellent program. I want to mention that my wife, who's doesn't make these sorts of comments often or lightly, said, "I hope Bush rots in hell for this." She was referring to invading Iraq, of course, and the price for doing it. Both of us have never thought there were sufficient reasons for the invasion. And the program last night certainly pointed out the cost for Bush's blunder. So you could say, as Dr. Melphi might on the Sopranos, that Nightline elicited an emotional response.
The idea that Nightline would do this for rating sweeps week is silly. For those that have done any work in television, or even watched it very much, should know that reading a list of names wouldn't be the logical hook to inrease ratings.
I watched for about 10 minutes...I forgot it was going to be on last night. I followed along using Iraq War Heroes. Some of the names read did die accidently. It was a very moving tribute.
i know, i think its messed up that you can choose to fight and die for your country as young as 16, but if you want to smoke or look at p*rn it's 18, and to drink alkie, it's 21.
I hope that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest watched the program. Maybe they would understand the waste.
The NY Times did something similar by publishing a series called "Faces of the Fallen" where they published special obituaries that were prominently placed of everyone who had died on 9/11. Its interesting that there was no political firestorm about that but universal praise. Basso; Given your view of a political motive behind Nightline reading all of the names of the US soldiers who have died in Iraq do you think then that the NY Times had a political motive behind that series to push us into war in Afghanistan?
Maybe the Pentagon can just prohibit this type of program like they do with coverage like they do with coffins and funerals. The can claim they are doing it to protect the feelings of the family and friends of the deceased.
I used it to convey the sense of what i think drove Fox to do this, not that the Koppel thing was representative of my side. In fact, the criticism most voiced by those opposed to the broadcast was that it lacked context. Putting aside for a moment the idea that Repubs would be arguing for nuance, the criticism is way off base because any "context" would mean some kind of value judgements in the explanation. Koppel reading names and showing pictures allows anyone who is watching to place it in their own context... no doubt some oppomnents of the Iraq adventure saw it as proof they are right while others saw it as an honor to those fallen while others might have seen it as a call to make sure those who died did not do so in vain. Most likely those watching felt a combination of thoughts and emotions that ran the gamut and was not defined by the rhetoric of the two camps. For this reason, I think Nightline did it the only way it could be done. Now, we are getting the Fox response, done obviously to counter what that side's rhetoric has convinced that side was the real purpose of the Nightline broadcast. Hence, retaliation. Undoubtedly, the Fox program will be chock full of value judgments always erring on the side of the administration's positions.
