move on, there's nothing to see here...
Tomorrow night, Friday, Nightline is planning to use it's program to broadcast the names of every serviceman and woman that has died in Iraq over the past year as a tribute to them. Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which owns stations in 39 markets, is ordering it's stations not to air the broadcast. They feel that it's a political stunt on the part of ABC news and do not want to air it.
What? The death of US servicemen and women is not news but "politics"? Since when? Certainly, it seems that the war itself was politically motivated and that these deaths then are the result of politics, but the "expression of respect which simply seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country" as ABC calls is it not. It is respect to give those that died "protecting" this country a moment of light so that they can be more than just mere statistics...after all, they made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. I think this stunt on the part of Sinclair is sad and disrespectful of those dead.
They have a statement on their website asking that those who question their decision, " question Mr. Koppel as to why he chose to read the names of 523 troops killed in combat in Iraq, rather than the names of the thousands of private citizens killed in terrorist attacks since and including the events of September 11, 2001."
The readings of names on Spetember 11 was done, ad naseum by groups and people all over the place. It is true that Nightline did not participate, but was that necessary given the name-readings done at ground zero and elsewhere? I don't thin so. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal (reprinted in at Freepress.net), Nightline producer Leroy Sievers was inspired "by memories of a Life magazine photo spread during the Vietnam War. 'They did a spread of all the people who died in one week ? I've never forgotten that,' he said in an interview. The name-reading ritual also evokes anniversary ceremonies remembering the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."
This seems to contradict Sinclair's reasoning behind removing the broadcast, instead suggesting that it's their motivations which are poitical here...
That is scary. Very scary. That a media company which operates substantial numbers of stations takes it upon itself to judge the intention of a repected news organization and censor news (and again, people, Americans are dying in Iraq, by the Humvee-ful...which is news whether you like it or not) from its public. This is why the monopolization of media outlets that is occuring in many markets is alarming. When a company, headed by a handful of people with all the power, can make the decision over what is and is not news...that's the tippy-top of a very high, very fast slippery slope towards a very un-American America of the future.
If Sinclair finds this broadcast so politically motivated and ABC news lacking the integrity to base their broadcasts in ideological activism ratehr than news, perhaps it's best that they sell their ABC stations and move away from that particular organization, rather than prevent the people from hearing what's going on outside our borders.
What? The death of US servicemen and women is not news but "politics"? Since when? Certainly, it seems that the war itself was politically motivated and that these deaths then are the result of politics, but the "expression of respect which simply seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country" as ABC calls is it not. It is respect to give those that died "protecting" this country a moment of light so that they can be more than just mere statistics...after all, they made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. I think this stunt on the part of Sinclair is sad and disrespectful of those dead.
They have a statement on their website asking that those who question their decision, " question Mr. Koppel as to why he chose to read the names of 523 troops killed in combat in Iraq, rather than the names of the thousands of private citizens killed in terrorist attacks since and including the events of September 11, 2001."
The readings of names on Spetember 11 was done, ad naseum by groups and people all over the place. It is true that Nightline did not participate, but was that necessary given the name-readings done at ground zero and elsewhere? I don't thin so. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal (reprinted in at Freepress.net), Nightline producer Leroy Sievers was inspired "by memories of a Life magazine photo spread during the Vietnam War. 'They did a spread of all the people who died in one week ? I've never forgotten that,' he said in an interview. The name-reading ritual also evokes anniversary ceremonies remembering the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."
This seems to contradict Sinclair's reasoning behind removing the broadcast, instead suggesting that it's their motivations which are poitical here...
That is scary. Very scary. That a media company which operates substantial numbers of stations takes it upon itself to judge the intention of a repected news organization and censor news (and again, people, Americans are dying in Iraq, by the Humvee-ful...which is news whether you like it or not) from its public. This is why the monopolization of media outlets that is occuring in many markets is alarming. When a company, headed by a handful of people with all the power, can make the decision over what is and is not news...that's the tippy-top of a very high, very fast slippery slope towards a very un-American America of the future.
If Sinclair finds this broadcast so politically motivated and ABC news lacking the integrity to base their broadcasts in ideological activism ratehr than news, perhaps it's best that they sell their ABC stations and move away from that particular organization, rather than prevent the people from hearing what's going on outside our borders.
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