Nightline

[theknife]

ABC's Nightline is going to air a 40 minute segment tonight, called "The Fallen", with a reading of the name of each American soldier who has died in Iraq, along with his picture. No commmentary, just a straight read right down the list.

this has some people in an uproar, particularly these guys:

The controversy escalated when the Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that the eight ABC affiliated stations it owns would not carry "The Fallen." In a statement, Sinclair said it would support "an honest effort to honor the memory of these brave soldiers," but it did not believe the "Nightline" program will do that.

"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," said the company.

coincidentally, Sinclair is a major Bush campaign donor...and somehow concludes that a reading of the list of fallen soldiers is a politically motivated anti-war statement. but, as a license holder of the public airwaves, do they really have the right to censor their market's ability to see this? and does a reading of the names consitute a political act?

i think not...this is much like the flap about photos of dead GI's coffins. the cost of this war oughta be front and center so the public is acutely aware of it. the right is practically phobic about this kind of publicity anymore...their insecurity is understandable, given the very shaky logic upon which this war was launched.

Wayne Smith, a spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation in Washington, said the "Nightline" program is "long overdue." Smith told United Press International the public needs to be informed about the number of U.S. war dead in Iraq, particularly in light of an incident Thursday, in which Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in testimony to Congress put the number of combat deaths in Iraq at "approximately" 350.

"Here is the man, second in command at the Department of Defense, responsible for U.S. military forces, and he didn't know how many Americans had died," said Smith. "I submit this is a case of out of sight, out of mind. It is an insult for any veteran and family not to know the cost of this war."

well, certainly Wolfowitz needs to watch Nightline, if only to get his facts straight.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=...0-035346-2742r