...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Friday, April 30, 2004
      ( 9:37 AM )
 
McCain on Censorship

Sen. John McCain has taken a stand. Again. Thank goodness there are some out there willing to speak out for what is true. I'm linking to Drudge on this one, but don't get used to it.

Of course I disagree with the Senator on many issues, not least of which is support of this war. But Sinclair Broadcasting has gone too far in censoring Nightline tonight. What Koppel is doing is telling the truth, with no embellishment, and in an honorable way. Americans have been shielded from the truth about war too much - it's all big bombs and night vision on CNN and Fox. But the toll it is taking on our soldiers' lives and their families, not to mention the horrific burden the Iraqis are bearing, is not being revealed to the citizens of this country. Sinclair Broadcasting has proven that corporate interests are the interests of this President, and those interests boil down to one thing: keeping him in power. THAT'S where the media bias is.

The Senator, in his public letter to Sinclair:

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.

Feelin' some opprobrium comin' on right about now.

| -- permanent link