By now, nearly everyone has already heard all about this, but it’s so offensive, I wanted to weigh in anyway.
ABC’s Nightline announced earlier this week that it would devote its entire Friday night program to honoring those soldiers who have died in Iraq. The network said in a statement that the broadcast is intended as “an expression of respect which simply seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country.”
It sounds like the kind of gesture that no one would have the gall to criticize, right? Wrong. The Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nation’s largest owner of television stations, announced yesterday that it has ordered its eight ABC affiliates not to carry tonight’s Nightline program. In a statement explaining why, the company said honoring fallen troops by reading their names and showing their faces would be a “political statement” that it refuses to broadcast.
Despite the denials by a spokeswoman for the show the action appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq.
While the Sinclair Broadcast Group honors the memory of the brave members of the military who have sacrificed their lives in the service of our country, we do not believe such political statements should be disguised as news content. As a result, we have decided to preempt the broadcast of “Nightline” this Friday on each of our stations which air ABC programming.
This is breathtakingly stupid. Hearing the company elaborate on its explanation only makes matters worse.
The Sinclair Broadcast Group’s statement added:
We understand that our decision in this matter may be questioned by some. Before you judge our decision, however, we would ask that you first question Mr. Koppel as to why he chose to read the names of the 523 troops killed in combat in Iraq, rather than the names of the thousands of private citizens killed in terrorists attacks since and including the events of September 11, 2001. In his answer, you will find the real motivation behind his action scheduled for this Friday.
There’s a word to describe this nonsense, but it probably isn’t appropriate for a family blog like this one.
The partisan agenda is obviously not on Nightline’s part. All the show plans to do is honor troops who have died. No, the partisan agenda is entirely that of the Sinclair Broadcast Group.
The company’s executives are — surprise, surprise — major Republican donors. Moreover, as Demagogue noted, Sinclair has been labeled the “Clear Channel of local news” and strives to be just like Fox News.
One of the nation’s newest and fastest-growing TV news networks says it’s tired of left-leaning news reporting and wants to offer Americans a fair and balanced perspective, just as Fox News Channel does.
Fox News eschewed politically correct news to become the dominant force on cable news. And now the Sinclair Broadcast Group has been following in Fox’s footsteps to do the same for broadcast news in news markets across the nation.
Let’s all say it together — what liberal media?
And, in case you’re wondering, the ABC affiliates affected by the company’s decision are in Columbus, Ohio; St. Louis; Charleston, W.Va.; Pensacola, Fla.; Springfield, Mass.; Asheville, N.C.; and Winston-Salem, N.C.
(Atrios noted that pro-military activists are gathering tonight in Columbus to read the names they won’t be able to hear on ABC, thanks to Sinclair. If you live in the area, you might want to check it out. I’m not sure if similar gathering are happening in the other cities.)
As for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, it’s just located just outside of Baltimore, Md. Its contact information is:
10706 Beaver Dam Road
Hunt Valley, MD 21030
Telephone: (410) 568-1500
Fax: (410) 568-1533
Email: webmaster@sbgi.net
The CEO’s name is David D. Smith.