KOPPEL MAKES THE CALL: ABC SET TO AIR NAMES OF WAR DEAD [Drudge]

Hartford Courant via Drudge ^ | April 30, 2004 | Liz Halloran

[lainie]

"Nightline" divides audience

HARTFORD, Conn. - (KRT) - ABC newsman Ted Koppel's plan to devote tonight's "Nightline" to reading the names of the more than 700 U.S. servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq has stirred anger and praise, and prompted one media company to bar its stations from airing the program.

Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group said Thursday that the unique program is politically motivated and ordered its seven ABC affiliates, including WGGB in Springfield, Mass., not to air it.

"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," said Barry Faber, Sinclair's counsel, in a prepared statement issued in response to a request for comment.

The controversy comes as the American public is getting a look at photographs of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq, and while a national debate is underway over the Bush administration's attempt to keep such images from the public eye.

. . .

As to what ABC viewers in Springfield will see tonight in place of "Nightline" and the list of war dead, Westerkamp said: "I don't know yet. We'll have something. Maybe a sitcom."

[FlashBack]

Sinclair's response was very good to both parties!!

The programming that they plan on airing sounds to be a much more appropriate way of honoring these brave souls!!

[Dog Anchor]

Rush made a good point today...Why is Ted Koppel not including those killed in Afghanistan?

[Warren]

How dumb. Will be a ratings disaster.
Who would want to listen to several hundred names being called?

[highlandbreeze]

Thanks. I can't even believe I'm living in the same country that I was in two days ago. It feels like bizaro world.

[BushisTheMan]

Shouldn't not running the pictures be for the same reason that the Supreme Court gave for not letting us see the Vince Foster photos.

If the loved one agrees, then yes. If not, then Koppel should not be allowed to show it.

Sounds like a good lawsuit to me.

[highlandbreeze]

I absolutely agree.

As the wife of a AF helo pilot, they would never receive my permission to air his name. Especially, not for a political pawn!

[chainsaw]

Did this biased liberal, Koppel, read all the names of the Americans that were killed in the World Trade Center, AND THE PENTAGON, AND THE AIRCRAFT USED. I think he should read those names first.

Of course, then he couldn't increase his ratings, and make a political statement at the same time, AT THE EXPENSE OF THE DEAD SOLDIERS AND THEIR FAMILIES. I think Koppel has reached a new vicious low

[rightwingcrazy]

...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.

There were too many. The list wouldn't fit into the broadcast format.

[Right_in_Virginia]

"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," said Barry Faber, Sinclair's counsel...

Exactly right. And, it is a coordinated political statement, too.

For those lucky enough to live outside their neighborhood, The Washington Post ran page after page of colors pictures today, too.

[fideist]

Here is the email I just sent NIGHTLINE --

It is all about the timing --

Reading the names of the dead before the war is over, is a protest.

Reading the names of the dead after the war is over, is an honor.

You should all be ashamed.

[Tamzee]

Tokyo Rose Koppel

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

If you learned that I went somewhere with $75,000 and came back with $500, would you commiserate with me over the loss of the money - or ask me if everyone turned their head as I drove by in my fancy new car?

The roll of the slain is the price we have (so far) paid; what those lives is buying is a historical question about which we can as yet only speculate. And if we cannot be sure what those lives are buying even now, still less did President Bush - or the troops themselves - know that when Bush made the decision to order the resumption of full-scale hostilities.

To count the cost after the fact, without reference to the goals for which those lives strove and ended, would be a cheap shot and a second guess. But include in the program a respectful account of the goals and hopes of the Administration and the troops, and an accounting of the bitter cost would not be hostile but supportive of the troops and the Administration.

[lainie]

Koppel, being interviewed today, said, "if you go down that road, where do you draw the line?"

Indeed, Ted.

[nkycincinnatikid]

Series Question? Has the miserable little smuck ever spent his air time reading the names of the dead on September 11 2001?

[lainie]

I can't say for sure but my guess would be no.

[lainie]

Speaking of coordinated political statements, I heard Ted say that he should get credit for honesty, being as he was categorically stating that this was NOT all about being "anti-war." So, instead, I surmise it's about doing his part to put Kerry in the W.H.

[Criminal Number 18F]

If Koppel does this, how will he be able to keep the glee out of his voice? After all, to Koppel and his puppeteers on the DNC, they were just mercenaries and they had it coming...

You have to wonder about these media sickos who get excited by deaths and coffins, and who wax orgasmic over images of Americans being mutilated.

But Ted Koppel didn't take this decision on his own. He is an empty suit with a room-temp IQ, who does what his bosses tell him, and makes no decision more meaningful than where to part his hair.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Smartass]

I hope someday to tune in to the reading of a similar
list.....one which includes the names Koppel, Cronkite,
Brown, Couric, Jennings, Rather, Brokaw, Imus, Lauer, et al.

Ted Koppel, Public Enemy #2

[lainie]

The show should be ending on the east coast -- how was it?

[syriacus]

Does anyone know when Nightline decided to do this program? Did they do it to counter the inspirational things young people have been hearing about Tillman?

BTW, April 30 is Walpurgisnacht, which is somewhat akin to Halloween.

Perhaps Koppel's parents, who were German, told him about it.

Walpurgisnacht

Walpurgisnacht is celebrated in Germany on April 30th, it also has otherworldly undertones. On the eve of St. Walpurgis Day (Walpurgisnacht) witches, demons and the dead roam the earth, meet and dance.