What, me worry?
Posted on 04/30/2004 4:14:54 PM PDT by jmstein7
During a week when Iraqi war coverage has dominated the cable news shows and led the networks' evening news programs, newsman Ted Koppel said he thinks Americans need to be 'reminded' of what is going on in Iraq.
In a Friday morning interview, Koppel said that's why he plans to read the names of more than 700 American troops killed in Iraq on Friday night's "Nightline."
Not all ABC affiliates will air tonight's "Nightline," however.
Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcasting is pre-empting the live "Nightline" program on its ABC affiliates, saying, "We find it offensive that Ted Koppel is trivializing the deaths of so many men and women. This is not a one-year anniversary of the war, or Memorial Day. This is 'sweeps week,' and he intends to use a news platform for a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq."
In an interview ABC's "Good Morning America" Friday, Koppel said he expected the show to be controversial - "but not this controversial."
He denied complaints that the show is "anti-war."
"It is a way of saying...let me explain it this way, Charlie [Gibson]. I was born and grew up in England. I was a small child in London during the Second World War. We used to spend our nights during bombing raids in an air-raid shelter in the back. There was rationing. There were blackouts. There was an awareness of the war, which I think is somehow a little bit lacking in the United States at this time.
"I'm not suggesting that people in this country don't know what's happening, but I think that periodically it is not unreasonable to remind everyone of who these young people are and what they look like."
Koppel was asked to recall the impact of a 1969 Life magazine - which published pictures of the servicemen who died in Vietnam in just one week. It was one of the things that turned the country against the Vietnam War, "Good Morning America" host Charlie Gibson said to Koppel.
Koppel admitted that his executive producer had brought up the Life magazine spread.
"That was one of the things that our executive producer...mentioned to me. He said, 'You remember the impact of that. What if we do something like that?' And I think it's an appropriate thing to do."
Koppel said if his show has received requests from parents asking him not to name their children, he's not aware of it.
The show will run for 40 minutes, Koppel said - longer than the usual 30 minutes. Koppel added that he'll be interested to hear reaction to the program after it airs.
Koppel, ABC News calling editorial position 'news'
"ABC has the right to do anything it wants to do with its program, but what ABC doesn't have the right to do is to call an editorial position 'news,' said Brent Bozell, president and founder of the Media Research Center and founder of CNSNews.com, speaking on Fox News Friday.
"It is taking a position on the war. It is showing only one side of this. It's showing only the dead. It's not telling the American public what they died for. So it's trying to make a political statement and Sinclair, I think, did the principle thing by saying we're not going to be a part of an editorial," added Bozell.
McCain chastises broadcaster' decision to pre-empt 'Nightline'
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) sent a letter to the president and CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, David Smith, about the broadcaster's decision to pre-empt Friday night's broadcast of "Nightline."
"I write to strongly protest your decision to instruct Sinclair's ABC affiliates to preempt this evening's Nightline program. I find deeply offensive Sinclair's objection to Nightline's intention to broadcast the names and photographs of Americans who gave their lives in service to our country in Iraq," McCain wrote.
"I supported the President's decision to go to war in Iraq, and remain a strong supporter of that decision," McCain continued.
"But every American has a responsibility to understand fully the terrible costs of war and the extraordinary sacrifices it requires of those brave men and women who volunteer to defend the rest of us; lest we ever forget or grow insensitive to how grave a decision it is for our government to order Americans into combat," he wrote.
"It is a solemn responsibility of elected officials to accept responsibility for our decision and its consequences, and, with those who disseminate the news, to ensure that Americans are fully informed of those consequences," McCain added.
"There is no valid reason for Sinclair to shirk its responsibility in what I assume is a very misguided attempt to prevent your viewers from completely appreciating the extraordinary sacrifices made on their behalf by Americans serving in Iraq," he wrote.
"War is an awful, but sometimes necessary business. Your decision to deny your viewers an opportunity to be reminded of war's terrible costs, in all their heartbreaking detail, is a gross disservice to the public, and to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces," McCain added.
"It is, in short, sir, unpatriotic. I hope it meets with the public opprobrium it most certainly deserves," he concluded.
Too bad; I hope this puts a lid on it for Nightline.
We did that at our school and it took 8 hours non-stop (I contributed a good fifteen minutes - nearly broke into tears).
But yes, that's a brilliant idea.
My public opprobium is directed at useful idiots like you Senator McCain.
If the show and Koppel were not political, our fallen soldiers in Afghanistan and elsewhere would be included.
And by the way Senator McCain, when will Ted and the boys be showing images of Americans jumping out windows in the WTC, of the dead on the USS COle, the fallen in Mogadishu and Bosnia?
And just who the hell are you McCain to set yourself up as the Supreme Court of Patriotism?
has anyone forgotten Koppel's war coverage from Kuwait was the most anti American? How about last night's show casting aspersions on Bush relying on Cheney? That's straight out of Kerry's theme of the week. Dick Clarke is now an "ABC News Commentator!" Puleeeze
Here's my favorite - This is Sinclair, the company that thinks Ted Koppel is politicizing news.
Can we call a barf alert on this? Yikes...
Interesting, though, that they would feel the need to bash Sinclair for blocking Nightline. If it were really to remind Americans "why we're there" then surely they'd be applauding the move and bashing Koppel instead (and, irony of ironies, would probably accuse him of treason). Things to think on...
Did Koppel read a list of the Serbian war dead who lost their lives from Clinton's bombs...to remind us all of what was going on in Eastern Europe?
(crickets chirping)
Didn't think so.
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