Sinclair Censors Nightline
This Friday, ABC's Nightline plans to have a special 40 minute show during which the names and pictures of all those who have died in Iraq will be broadcast.
Sinclair Broadcasting, whose VP of Corporate Relations, Mark Hyman, has been a past target of mine (see here and here), has directed its ABC affiliates not to broadcast the show, because they believe it is not in the "public interest."
Sinclair explained its stance in a public statement today:
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.
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.
In response, Nightline noted that they were simply honoring those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country and that they have broadcast several specials on 9/11.
The Sinclair affiliates affected by the decision include:
- St. Louis, MO
- Columbus, OH
- Asheville, NC and Greenville/Spartanburg/Anderson, SC
- Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC
- Charleston/Huntington, WV
- Pensacola, FL
- Springfield, MA
WWDT honors the fallen.
Postscript: "Pontificator" in a comment on Eschaton claims that he called Sinclair and was informed that the beloved Mark Hyman was, indeed, the one responsible for the decision to preempt Nightline.
The explanation from Sinclair now found on News Central's Web-site is different from the one provided earlier (quoted above). It now reads:
The ABC Television Network announced on Tuesday that the Friday, April 30 edition of "Nightline" will consist entirely of Ted Koppel reading aloud the names of U.S. servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq. 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.
There is no organization that holds the members of our military and those soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in service of our country in higher regard than Sinclair Broadcast Group. While Sinclair would support an honest effort to honor the memory of these brave soldiers, we do not believe that is what "Nightline" is doing. Rather, Mr. Koppel and "Nightline" are hiding behind this so-called tribute in an effort to highlight only one aspect of the war effort and in doing so to influence public opinion against the military action in Iraq. Based on published reports, we are aware of the spouse of one soldier who died in Iraq who opposes the reading of her husband[base ']s name to oppose our military action. We suspect she is not alone in this viewpoint. As a result, we have decided to preempt the broadcast of "Nightline" this Friday on each of our stations which air ABC programming.
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 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. In his answer, we believe you will find the real motivation behind his action scheduled for this Friday. Unfortunately, we may never know for sure because Mr. Koppel has refused repeated requests from Sinclair's News Central news organization to comment on this Friday's program.
It's funny how they can claim their commitment to the troops is unquestionable, while Nightline is clearly motivated by a political agenda. I'm curious what they will put on television to replace the Nightline broadcast. Perhaps they will rerun their series on the ample good news in Iraq.
NewsMax reports in a January 2004 article that Sinclair seeks to be the next "Fair and Balanced" network.
[Thanks to Atrios and Steve Smith.]
UPDATE
The Center for American Progress has a nice summary of the Sinclair-Nightline controversy and of Sinclair's history. Atrios has captured the summary on his site.
11:59:41 PM 
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