Sinclair Group Smeared the NAACP

The December 14 edition of Sinclair Broadcast Group's two-minute conservative commentary segment "The Point" took aim at the NAACP. Sinclair vice president Mark Hyman, who hosts "The Point," cited articles from three African American journalists in an attempt to support his suggestion that the primary challenge facing the organization is "relevancy" and that NAACP chairman Julian Bond "is more intent on bomb-throwing than in supporting the tenets of the group." Hyman first referred to a December 7 column by conservative author, syndicated TV and radio host, and syndicated columnist (Pet Negro) Armstrong Williams, who claimed without substantiation that retiring NAACP presidentKweisi Mfume "did not resign" from the organization but "was kicked out" by Bond for "reaching out to the Bush administration." Media Matters for America previouslynoted Williams's insistence that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) criticism of Justice Clarence Thomas during a December 5 appearance on NBC's Meet the Pressmakes Reid a "racist." [more]