That was dissapointing on so many levels. They didn't even try to get into the debate much at all and then they brought on two talking heads at the end. That Habersham dude was so boring he put me to sleep.
I give Nightline an F on handling the issue.
I give Nightline an F too. What did you expect from a program that got its start producing spin for Carter over the Iran hostage crisis?
No way. This was solid C- material. They interviewed pro-SBVfT vets without distorting what they said and they gave anti-Kerry people a chance to speak, like the reporter from the CSM--even though she didn't get to say much.
They failed, however, to look into any of the substance of the charges. They only had 30 minutes, but this was the most important part of the ad (not who's paying for it, but it's actual content!). They also didn't mention how Kerry's lawyers were trying to prevent SBVfT from getting TV stations to run their ads, or the dishonesty in the letters from Kerry's lawyers. That would have been a lot more interesting than looking into who paid for it or if it was legitimate to even run the ads in the first place.
In NightLine's defense, the SBVfT have made this information available on their website (and in their book, I presume), but not in the ads they are running.
I think NightLine could redeem itself if in a week or two's time it looked into the specifics of just one of the four contested medals, and interviewed both SBVfT and Kerry campaign staff in detail, without getting distracted by side issues like finance or what other veterans think about politics in general. A tight, laser-like focus on just a single medal would be much more interesting than the mostly superficial program that was on tonight.
I said before this episode aired that Jake Tapper has the capacity to report decently, honestly, and fairly. I think he did okay. He probably had to fight ultra-liberal ABC tooth and nail to get as many anti-Kerry people on as he did (after all, he wants to protect his reputation for fairness). There's more to it than just getting them on the show--he has to make sure what they said was translated fairly for the cameras, and I think he achieved that. I don't think the SBVfT will complain about this segment on their website or anywhere else; they probably think it went pretty well.