Same ‘Nightline,' different reaction

[flowomo]

This is my weekly newspaper column for 5/26/05.
MODS: I have reprint permission for this from my newspaper.
ONLINE at: www.cumberlink.com/articles/2005/05/26/editorial/rich_lewis/lewis01.txt


By Rich Lewis, May 26, 2005

Nobody is complaining this time, but will enough people be paying attention?

ABC News announced this week it will extend its broadcast of "Nightline" on Memorial Day to read the names and show the photographs of the American service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last year.

When "Nightline" announced this same tribute last year, it set off a firestorm of protest from right-wing groups. In fact, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nation's largest owner of television stations and a heavy contributor to the Republican Party, refused to allow its eight ABC affiliates to air the April 30, 2004 show.

"The (show) appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq," Sinclair said in a statement at that time.

Sinclair's vice president and general counsel, Barry Faber, told the Washington Post that the "motivation" for the show was "to focus attention solely on people who have died in the war in order to push public opinion toward the United States getting out of Iraq."

Others who slammed the broadcast included "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace and "Weekly Standard" editor William Kristol.

Of course, a presidential election was just months away, and the last thing George Bush's supporters wanted the public to see was a reminder that hundreds of Americans had died in a war for which there was no apparent justification and for which no end was in sight.

But with Bush safely re-elected, Sinclair is singing a different tune this year, and few of those who were so "outraged" last year are singing anything at all.

"I'm happy to say we haven't heard anything from the affiliates or the Sinclair Group," "Nightline" chief Tom Bettag told Knight-Ridder's Gail Shister on Tuesday. "We don't expect to draw much fire."

In fact, Sinclair has hopped on the "tribute" bandwagon this time around, and has even changed its story about why it yanked the program last year — not unlike the way the administration changed its story about why we launched the war.

In a statement posted Tuesday on its Website, Sinclair said it "applauds Nightline for paying tribute to those service men and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan by reading their names on Memorial Day."

And why is it such a noble undertaking in 2005 when it was such a scandalously unpatriotic act in 2004?

Well, Sinclair now says, "Unlike Nightline's reading of the names last year, which coincided with the start of the May ratings sweeps, we feel that this year's Memorial Day selection is the appropriate setting to remember those who have sacrificed their lives to keep all Americans safe and free."

What? Sinclair last year blocked a tribute to those who had "sacrificed their lives" because it was "May ratings sweeps"? In other words, to protect the few pennies it might have lost in advertising dollars by yielding two hours of airtime to honor the dead? It's not only a new excuse, but a repugnant one.

While such hypocrisy is worth noting, the real issue here is the horror which underlies the upcoming May 30 "Nightline" broadcast.

Last year, anchor Ted Koppel named and pictured 721 American service members who had died in Iraq. This year, the show will honor the "more than 900" people who have died since then. Yes, this year's broadcast will include those killed in Afghanistan, but 907 of those deaths were in Iraq, according to figures compiled by icasualties.org. Sixty U.S. troops have been killed this month alone, the highest number since January.

Tens of thousands of Americans pay close and constant attention to what is happening in Iraq — including those who are stationed there or are at risk of being sent there, or those who have friends or family members serving there.

But for tens of millions of Americans, the war is ignored or forgotten more often than not. Really, how often do you hear people talking about it in your neighborhood or workplace?

The deaths of American soldiers don't even make the top story on the TV news anymore, or the front page of the newspapers. The thousands of wounded never did. Nor the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed and maimed.

The bloody, violent machine just keeps grinding away in the background — as though, in an echo of the "Star Wars" movies, it is all happening "long ago, in a galaxy far, far away."

Americans obviously understand that the war is all cost and little benefit. Recent polls consistently show a majority convinced the war was "not worth it." Still, few protest and it goes on and the word is we'll be there for at least another five years.

But all these statistics put a comforting distance between us and the full meaning of what is happening in Iraq.

"Too often we simply report casualties in terms of numbers," "Nightline's" Bettag said Tuesday. "The Fallen is our way of reminding viewers, regardless of their feelings about the war, that the men and women who have given their lives on our behalf are individuals with names and faces."

We should all take the time on Monday to hear those names, see those faces — and truly feel the pain of losing them.

Rich Lewis' e-mail address is [e-mail]

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Thanks for posting. I liked your mention of 'Star Wars'. May it be

a sutle reminder to those who watch the new one of the evil of empire.

[Demit]

2. Nice piece! The Sinclair about-face was particularly enlightening.