Posted on 09/20/2001 2:19:01 PM PDT by Sparky760
Greetings all, If I posted in the wrong place forgive me. I am livid! Cablevisions News 12 Reporters and anchors have been directed to not show any display of the American Flag in the form of flags, lapel pins, ribbons etc. This is an outrage. I will give the info to contact them I hope we can Freeper them to common sense. Next I will be working on sponsers. Thank you my fellow Americans Phone number - 516-393-1200 Fax - 516-364-6037 email address - news12li@news12.com
Everybody, this cannot be allowed. This is America -- and to say the American flag cannot be displayed, in America, during a time when war has been declared against America, -- is an outrage, an act of treason, yea an act on the side of the enemy, and is beyond my capability of expressing in words.
But we need to keep abreast of the news, and TV is an important way of doing so. (We live in a canyon, so cannot get TV off an antenna.)
Link here Text of Statement from News12
Reports in other media have generated a lot of misunderstanding about News 12 and whether we're patriotic as a news organization.
First, we apologize for any concern these stories have created. We should not be distracted by issues like this at a time when we are all focused on tracking down terrorists and helping our country recover.
Let's be clear. We at News 12 are proud to be Americans. No one has worked harder to cover the heroic rescuers at the World Trade Center. We have been on the air continuously telling the personal stories of those who are lost and those who are desperately attempting to save anyone who may still be alive. Everyone at News 12 has worked themselves to exhaustion to make sure our viewers have all the information they need to understand what's happening and to help in any way they can.
Many of us in the newsroom have lost friends, including a News 12 photographer. Like everyone else,we feel shock, and pain, and anger. And we want to respond.
Our way of responding, as journalists, is to do what the first amendment of the United States Constitution compels us to do. To report the facts objectively, and to give all sides of a story, without even a hint of bias.
There is no ban on the American flag at News 12. If you watch News 12, you will see we have done dozens of stories showing our viewers displaying the flag with pride and passion. And images of the flag have filled our newscasts since the first day of the tragedy.
We love and respect the American flag and all it stands for. All News 12 employees are free and encouraged to display the flag at their desks, in their private work areas, in the crew lounges, in the edit rooms.
But the flag is also a powerful symbol that must be used wisely. That's why in my opinion, we need to be careful in using it when we're in public reporting the news.
We are patriots at News 12, but we don't want anyone to get the false impression that our patriotic emotions cloud our reporting of the facts. We need people to be absolutely sure we'll be there to tell them what's happening. Whether it is good news or bad news, America must know the truth.
In attempting to clarify just how the flag should be used on our air, we inadvertently touched off a painful controversy.
We received a lot of calls from a lot of viewers.
What's most troubling is that this issue seems to have rubbed salt in the wounds of so many people who are trying their best to cope with this horrendous event.
I apologize personally for any pain this may have caused anyone. That certainly was not what I intended.
You can be certain that all of us at News 12 are good Americans, and we'll continue our mission to provide reliable, quality coverage as we all struggle to recover from this brutal attack on our way of life.
But when did they stop being Americans?
What "facts" could justify the banning of the flag? This person is a bit confused about what country they work in, for and by permission of!
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