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Sinclair decision robs viewers of chance to honor fallen soldiers
It is somewhat unbelievable to us that while thousands of our young men and women are stationed in Iraq to protect our freedoms, one media conglomerate can decide to deprive television viewers in Western North Carolina the opportunity to pay tribute to the sacrifice made by more than 700 of their comrades.
We're speaking, of course, with regard to the decision by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of Asheville ABC affiliate WLOS-TV, to pre-empt Friday's (April 30) broadcast of Nightline, when host Ted Koppel read the names of military personnel killed in Iraq during the past year.
Nightline producers indicated that the show was inspired by a Vietnam War-era Life magazine article, which included the names and photographs of some 200 soldiers killed during one week of combat; Sinclair officials said that to read the names and show the photos was "politicizing" the war's casualties.
If it had not been for a South Carolina-based Fox affiliate, WNC viewers could not have seen the broadcast.
We asked a local veteran, one who served during the first Iraq war in 1991, what he thought of Sinclair's decision.
"It stinks," he said. "The American people deserve to see the faces of those who gave their lives for this country. We have a right to salute them.
"I don't see ABC's move as political but as legitmately honoring fallen comrades," he said. "April was a bloody month, and it's time to recognize troops that gave the ultimate sacrifice."
Sinclair's move to deny local viewers the images and names of the fallen soldiers is upsetting to us as well. It is troubling that Sinclair's conservative absentee ownership would choose to censor programming at the local level.
It seems appropriate to point out that Nightline was born during the late-1970s Iran hostage crisis to provide the American people with a daily update. A Democrat, Jimmy Carter, lived in the White House then.
And WNC is not a typical television market. We don't have many channels to choose from when it comes to local news and major network programming. WLOS is the only station that's North Carolina-oriented; both the NBC and CBS affiliates are based in South Carolina.
We agree with the person who was quoted in an area newspaper as saying, in essence, that it's "unbelievable that the people who choose the leader of the free world can't be trusted to choose what they watch on television."
As the nation remains caught up with the bravery and sacrifice of NFL star Pat Tillman, who perished in Afghanistan last month after giving up a multimillion dollar contract to join the Army's elite rangers, it is important to see and remember the faces of all the others who were so ready to do their part for their country.
What could be political about that?
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