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| Koppel Defends "The Fallen" | |||||
| 2004-04-30 | |||||
Radio talk shows and newspaper columnists have criticized Koppel's plans. Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns 8 ABC affiliated stations in Columbus, Ohio; St. Louis, Mo.; and some smaller markets, said it would not air the "Nightline" broadcast. The company's memo said, in part, "Despite the denials by a spokeswoman for the show, the action appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq."
Koppel: Not only initially, I still am. I don't want it to make a political statement. Quite the contrary. My position on this is I truly believe that people will take away from this program the reflection of what they bring to it. I think it is just as possible for a staunch supporter of the war to come away from this program very moved and content that it was done as it is for someone who is an opponent of the war to come with exactly the same feeling. I also have no illusions. I think it's entirely possible that people who hold those differing points of view will watch the same program and come away wishing it had not been done.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #18 Heard the show, too, Big Ed. One point that he brought up which didn't occur to me this morning: today is the 29th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. Nice, Ted. Nice... |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-04-30 7:28:26 PM |
| #17 Eric Hogue, substituting for Hugh Hewitt, has just talked to a Sinclair Networks spokesman, Mark Hymen (sp?) who said they are trying to contact Koppel, to no avail. Also Koppel apparently appeared on Franken's Air America show today. What did he say there? Anybody out there got an inside with Hannity to contact him, and let him know that Howdy Doody may have BS'd him BIG TIME??????? He might want to check this info out? |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-04-30 6:42:41 PM |
| #16 Koppel on Hannity - Summary - forgive the typos please Koppel Denies Sinclair's charges. Says that show may have been inspired by Life magazine from 1969, but Life's impact on Vietnam debate was minimal. Believes show "in context" because over 200 of the last years over 250 shows. Is he saying, "just another Iraq show?" Denies again the show is intended to be anti-war. "We are doing it in a dignified and classy way." - Koppel Hannity asked Koppel if there can be a genuine disagreement? Koppel is starting to (cry) complain of censorship. Hannity reminds Koppel that censorship would involve government action. Koppel is forced to admit that Sinclair's actions are legal. Changes censorship to inappropriate. Hannity says he will watch, and tells Koppel he hopes it was done "right" |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-04-30 5:22:48 PM |
| #15 RMcLeod (in re Pat Tillman)- To say nothing of the UMass DODO from yesterday. It never ceases. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-04-30 4:53:31 PM |
| #14 key graph in the Sinclair response to McCain: "In closing, I would like to quote for you the words of Captain Kate Blaise of the U.S. Military. Captain Blaise served in Iraq as a member of the 101st Airborne Division and suffered the loss of her husband Mike who was killed while also serving in Iraq. In commenting on exactly the type of practice which "Nightline" intends to employ, Captain Blaise had this to say: "I was watching the news, watching this anti-war demonstration and they were reading off names of soldiers who had fallen in Iraq and they read off my husband's name. That made me very angry because he very strongly believed in what he was doing and they were using his name for a purpose that he would not have approved of." And guess what? There is an anti-war demo in San Francisco today that is doing this exact same thing. Does anyone think these asshats care a whit about our soldier's well-being? All one has to do is go back over the last week's reaction by the anti-war leftists to Pat Tillman's death. That tells you EVERYTHING. |
| Posted by: RMcLeod 2004-04-30 4:47:55 PM |
| #13 Since Nightline can do 500 KIAs in Iraq in 30 minutes perhaps they'd be interested in the following corpse counts and the estimated times required to do them too: 200 victims in Madrid: 12 minutes 400 victims in Bali: 24 minutes 3,000 victims 9/11: 3 hours 300,000 victims Saddam regime: 300 hours 1,000,000 victims UNScam: 1000 hours I mean, we want to honor the dead now, don't we? None of this is political, is it? |
| Posted by: RMcLeod 2004-04-30 4:43:11 PM |
| #12 From the DRUDGE-man : McCains Complaint to Sinclair Resopnse to McCain Criticism McCain is s good guy, but sometimes a cylinder misfires, like here. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-04-30 3:44:53 PM |
| #11 The timing sucks from the viewers' Point Of View. May sweeps/Ratings. Plus Ted's left Of Center personal politics. If Ted and Company are really serious. ABC should set aside the 'Nightline' advertising profits for the Sweeps Month's shows. Set up a fund for the families of those fallen. Donate those profits. Then ask for contributions to be made to that fund at the commercial breaks! |
| Posted by: Jack Deth 2004-04-30 1:21:23 PM |
| #10 I believe it was back in 69 when Life magazine published names and photos of Vietnam War KIAs. I think Ted wants to emulate Life's contribution to advancing public opinion toward the tipping point against the war. How many more will die as a result of Ted Koppel's special? Dunno. But even 1 is too many. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-04-30 11:57:45 AM |
| #9 Lucky - Spot-ON! Perfect! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-04-30 9:36:15 AM |
| #8 Koppel is just an attention whore. Will he read the names of the 3,000 from 9/11? How about the millions from Saddam's mass graves? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-04-30 9:26:20 AM |
| #7 Koppel is going to read about 500 names which I estimate to be the approximate number of Americans killed due to America's dominant leftwing media propagandists, the DIM presidential hopefuls and TEDDY "Shit-spewing Traitor" Kennedy giving the enemy HOPE we would turn tail and run given enough bloodshed. |
| Posted by: Garrison 2004-04-30 3:11:08 AM |
| #6 After almost two and a half decades anchoring ABC News' "Nightline," Ted Koppel says he is surprised... Ted, I think those two and a half decades might have something to do with peoples' skepticism. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-04-30 2:59:28 AM |
#5 Koppel Defends "The Fallen"It's more like Koppels' fallen and he can't reach his morals. If he had any. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-04-30 2:37:01 AM |
| #4 Yesterdays article and comments on this topic Bottom line. Howdy Doody Koppel got slapped by these Sinclair folks courage, and this is becoming noisier by the hour. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-04-30 1:46:54 AM |
| #3 I think any attempt from liberal TV to honor the fallen should be applauded but at the same time, ABC should be placed under a microscope for ANY attempt to place this event in ANY political context. Real people have lost their family members in this war, and they deserve reverence and respect not only towards them but towards those still in the field, still fighting: the friends of the fallen. Those people deserve every chance they can get to survive this war and so do the rest of us. Those fallen didn't die for nothing; they died to protect Ted's right to bash Bush and his agenda, and my right to call ABC on any attempt to politicize this event. If NightLine can't uphold a simple standard of decency, then perhaps they should rename themselves the Jerry Springer channel for all the seriousness I will regard their news team henceforth. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-04-30 1:40:12 AM |
| #2 If the show was truly non-political,Nightline would have included the Afghanistan casualties. Letterman has Hillary on Friday night.2 shows I won't watch. |
| Posted by: Stephen 2004-04-30 1:39:20 AM |
| #1 Slut! |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-04-30 1:29:51 AM |