the Sugar Conspiracy

Friday, April 30, 2004

Censorship - alive and well in America!

First, Nightline says it's going to devote it's entire show this Friday to simply reading the names of the soldiers killed in Iraq. Then Sinclair Broadcast Group ordered its ABC affiliates to preempt the broadcast, becuase they said it was "designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq." So apparently, honoring the soldiers is also undermining them. And protesting the war in the first place is undermining them. How exactly, then, are we supposed to honor our soldiers? Nice little safe parades on Memorial Day??

Now, Senator John McCain has joined the fray with a letter to Sinclair:

I supported the President’s decision to go to war in Iraq, and remain a strong supporter of that decision. 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. 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.

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. 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. It is, in short, sir, unpatriotic. I hope it meets with the public opprobrium it most certainly deserves.

Kos has the lowdown on Sinclair, including this little tidbit:

Sinclair communications corporate counsel decided to pull the Nightline broadcast from their 8 ABC affiliates. Sinclair Broadcasting owns 62 stations, and specializes in "Television Duopolies" - creating markets where all major affiliates are owned by two companies (Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS). They also contribute heavily to Bush -according open secrets the company or its directors have given over $200,000 to the RNC and Republican Candidates, nothing to Democrats.

posted by chris at 2:38 PM
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