Reporter Countersues Sinclair

The Baltimore Sun reports that a reporter who was sued in October by Sinclair Broadcast Group after he accused it of political bias has filed a countersuit:

Jonathan S. Leiberman, Washington bureau chief for the Hunt Valley-based company until his dismissal in October 2004, said in his lawsuit that he was wrongfully discharged and that he did not breach his contract by speaking publicly about a disagreement with his bosses, as the company had claimed. Reached yesterday by telephone, Leiberman confirmed the lawsuit’s filing. He is seeking $79,166, the amount he would have earned if he had served out his two-year contract, and an unspecified amount in unpaid benefits.

Leiberman had objected to Sinclair’s plans to pre-empt normal programming at its 62 television stations less than two weeks before the 2004 presidential election to air “an extremely one-sided and negative” documentary about Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, “tricked out as news,” his lawsuit said. Leiberman said such a label was misleading.