What You Can't See Can't Hurt You, I Guess

Tonight, ABC's Nightline will be dedicated to honoring the memories of those Americans who have died in combat in Iraq. As I understand it, Ted Koppel will simply be reading the names of the fallen while their pictures are on the screen. No commentary, no "angle." Nonetheless, Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns several ABC local affiliates, have pulled the program from their stations tonight. One of those affiliates is WCHS here in Charleston. This does not come really as a shock to me - WCHS pulled Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect long before it was cancelled by ABC. Also not shocking is the generally favorable local reaction to the show being off the air.

Outside of Charleston, however, things are quite different. An official at WSXY in Columbus says the station has received many calls, none of them in favor of Sinclair's decision. Also weighing in is Arizona Senator John McCain, who has certainly earned the right to opine about all things military, in a letter to Sinclair's CEO:

"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."

Sinclair claims the show "appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq." In general, local affiliates have the power to not show network programs that might, for some reason, offend local sensibilities. Normally it's because something is labeled indecent or overly violent or what have you. That's objectionable enough, but to take a news program off the air because it might "undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq," which seems highly unlikely, is frightening. What's next - taking the ABC Nightly News off the air because they show what's happening in Fallujah? That is certainly not in the public interest, folks at Sinclair.