Sinclair Fires Washington Bureau Chief

The Washington bureau chief for Sinclair Broadcast Group, Jon Leiberman, found out that you don't stand up for your principals if you work for a media wingnut.

The Washington bureau chief for Sinclair Broadcast Group said he was fired Monday after he criticized the company's plans to produce a news program based on a documentary critical of John Kerry's Vietnam-era anti-war activities.

Jon Leiberman said he was fired by Joseph DeFeo, Sinclair's vice president for news, and ``escorted out of the building.''

``I was told I violated company policy by divulging information from a staff meeting to The (Baltimore) Sun in this morning's edition,'' Leiberman said late Monday.

I guess Mr. Leiberman's crime was having an amazing grasp of the obvious:

``They're using the news to drive their political agenda,'' Leiberman said. ``I don't think it served the public trust.''

Well, I hope Mr. Leiberman didn't have any Sinclair stock as it dropped 7.8% on fears of a loss of advertising revenue.