Those without Sinclair Casting the First Stone

The Sinclair Broadcast Group is "the poster child for abuse of the public airwaves," said the director of the media issues organization Free Press. Free Press is challenging the license renewal applications for four Sinclair stations in North and South Carolina, in a petition before the Federal Communications Commission. The petition, the first move in what's expected to be "a series of such actions involving Sinclair-held licenses," charges that "Sinclair has violated the FCC's so-called duopoly rule, which limits the number of licenses one company can hold in a single market," through local marketing agreements. Sinclair was recently criticized over pre-election plans to air the anti-John Kerry film "Stolen Honor."