Jonathan Leiberman

Jonathan Leiberman was the Washington bureau chief for Sinclair Broadcast Group.

In late 2004, Sinclair announced a decision to broadcast the film "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," which is critical of U.S. Senator and then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, just prior to the U.S. presidential election. Leiberman criticised the decision as compromising the journalistic credibility of the network. Following his public comments, Sinclair sacked Leiberman in October 2004. [1]

More than two years later, Sinclair and Leiberman reached agreement on a lawsuit and countersuit stemming from the incident. The Baltimore Sun reported on December 16, 2006: [2]

Both sides dropped their suits this week. Under the terms of the settlement, no one involved in the case may speak publicly about it.

Sinclair had prevailed in an earlier case before the Maryland Department of Labor, which found that Leiberman had violated provisions of his contract that prohibited speaking to the press without permission about internal company matters.

External Resources

• Jay Rosen, ""Call it Commentary, Call it Editorial, Call it Programming, but Don't Call it News." Sinclair Fires Jonathan Leiberman", PressThink, October 19, 2004.
• Jim Romenesko, "Sinclair D.C. bureau chief blasts plan to air anti-Kerry film: Baltimore Sun", Poynter Online, October 18, 2004.
• Columbia Journalism Review, "When a Media Company Runs Amok", Editorial, CJR Daily, October 19, 2004.
• Nick Madigan, "Sinclair, fired worker settle: Suits are ended over his ouster," Baltimore Sun, December 16, 2006.