WASHINGTON – The Democratic Party and 18 senators are objecting to a broadcasting company’s plan to air on 62 TV stations a documentary that is critical of John Kerry’s anti-war activities after he returned home from Vietnam three decades ago.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has asked its television stations – many of them in competitive states in the presidential election – to pre-empt regular programming to run some or all of the documentary as part of an hour-long programme two weeks before the November 2 election.

The company owns or manages affiliates of major broadcast networks in several states, including Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Mark Hyman, a vice-president of corporate relations for Sinclair, said yesterday the show would contain some or all of the 42-minute film as well as a panel discussion of some sort. He said final details had not been worked out.

Called “Stolen Honour: Wounds That Never Heal,” the documentary chronicles Kerry’s testimony before Congress and links him to activist and actress Jane Fonda. It includes interviews with Vietnam prisoners of war and their wives.

“The documentary is just a part of a special news event that we’re putting together. We’ve invited one person to be a guest. That’s Senator John Kerry,” Hyman said.

The Democratic National Committee planned to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission contending that Sinclair’s airing of the film should be considered an illegal in-kind contribution to President George W Bush’s campaign.

Also, 18 Democratic senators sent a letter to the Federal Communication Commission yesterday asking that it investigate whether Sinclair’s plan was an improper use of public airwaves.

“To allow a broadcasting company to air such a blatantly partisan attack in lieu of regular programming, and to classify that attack as ‘news programming’ as has been suggested, would violate the spirit, and, we think, the text of current law and regulation,” the letter said.

Hyman called the allegation “absolutely absurd.”

“Would they suggest that our reporting a car bomb in Iraq is an in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign? Would they suggest that our reporting on job losses is an in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign?” he said. “It’s the news. It is what it is. We’re reporting the news.”

Carlton Sherwood, a Vietnam veteran and former journalist who made the film, said yesterday that he felt the media had not explored the period of Kerry’s life after he returned from Vietnam, including when he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about atrocities he and other soldiers witnessed.

“For 33 years, we’ve been saying that how Kerry portrayed us was utterly false. It was purgatory of the worst kind. It was slander,” Sherwood said. “But no one wanted to talk about it. Everybody ran for cover.”

Sherwood, based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said the film took six weeks to make, and Sinclair contacted him last month upon the film’s completion. He said he was told last week of the company’s plans to run it.