Demonstrators gather at WLOS to protest 'Nightline' decision,

[G_j]

http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/news/54167

Demonstrators gather at WLOS to protest 'Nightline' decision

By Barbara Blake, Staff WriterMay 1, 2004 12:37 a.m.


ASHEVILLE - A somber crowd of nearly 100 gathered on the lawn of WLOS-TV's property in Biltmore Park late Friday night to protest the station's parent company's decision to black out a "Nightline'' broadcast in which the names of more than 700 war dead were read.

"If they were my children, I'd want you to know their names,'' read a sign carried by one older woman, signaling the anger generated by Sinclair Broadcast Group's decision to pre-empt the Nightline broadcast in Asheville and seven of its other markets.

Sinclair officials said Ted Koppel's report, in which the names of military personnel were read as their pictures appeared on the screen, amounted to anti-war propaganda.

Sinclair aired a special program in place of "Nightline." The program discussed the merits of the war and Sinclair's decision to pre-empt "Nightline."

"The nerve of Sinclair to say a program that's honoring our dead is political and negative - it's beyond me,'' said Jackie Simms, who carried a small sign that said, "Censorship is political.''

..more..




photo gallery
http://www.citizentimes.com/photogallery/gallery.php?gallery=446

**WLOS has recieved well over 4000 emails concerning the censorship of Nightline, & their phones have been flooded.

[crispuss]

1. Why weren't Afgan deaths read aloud?

[G_j]

2. if it was up to me

the Afghan deaths along with the aprox. 14,000 (or more) civilians killed in both wars would be read. This however was providing what the censorship of Nightline had denied our local citizens.

[LittleApple81]

4. Because the Iraqi war is an illegal, trumped up war. Americans

and many in the International community recognized that because of Al Qaida and terror Afghanistan was a place we would need to take action.

However, we abandoned Afghanistan and attacked Iraq using lies. The soldiers who have died and will die in Iraq are victims of the administration.

[newyawker99]

11. Hi crispuss!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Kanary]

3. That's a good turnout for a spur-of-the-moment rally

Thanks for posting this, G_j. I know it was a bummer to be in the censored area, but this coverage could be an important milestone.

I don't know much about NC --- is it unusual to get this kind of coverage in the local paper?

It looks like a Vet was reading some of the names....?

Kanary

[G_j]

5. This particular story

dominated the news here in the last few days. It brought lots of attention to the issue. Veterans for Peace were on the local news, as well as families of "fallen" soldiers who were quite upset that their loved ones were not being honored. It was front page headlines both yesterday and today in the local paper. I think its safe to say this backfired on Sinclair.
There will also be a peace rally today downtown for the "mission accomplished" anniversary.

[CRK7376]

6. Way to go Asheville!

Northwestern NC is home for me...Unfortunately Uncle Sam has me elsewhere now. Asheville is a great liberal town, not as wild as Chapel Hill, but a great place surrounded by mountains...Damn I miss NC....

[G_j]

10. I wouldn't necessarily

call Asheville liberal. It is more like a battleground between strongly conservative and liberal voices. This makes for some interesting times. And yes, it is quite beautiful, though over-development and poor air quality are stressing us to the max.

[Lindsay]

7. Good on ya, Asheville.

And good that Sinclair's idiocy backfired so dramatically.

[Warpy]

8. Time to write your congresmen

...and the FCC. Complain that by banning NEWS, WLOS has violated its agreement to serve the public interest. Tell them you want their licnese revoked and issued to someone who won't violate the charter.

Remember, they may have bought the bricks and mortar and electronic equipment, but those airwaves are OURS.

[G_j]

9. what I found interesting

was that although being owned by Sinclair and having no choice in the Nightline matter, they devoted most of the evening's news to the controversy and aired a lot of dissenting voices. I really have to commend WLOS, who are not known to be notably liberal, for this.

Another thing that was very significant I thought, was that the reading of the names outside WLOS last night brought together ant-war people and other members of the community who perhaps supported the war for the FIRST time. To see these diverse segments of the community in solidarity over something was quite inspiring.
I bet Sinclair never foresaw that!

[Robbien]

12. The WLOS website was almost an advertisement for Nightline

And it encouraged people to write Sinclair through them. They said they would definitely deliver the emails to Sinclair.

Hope there is no backlash to the station. If there is, hopefully these same people will come out in support.

[G_j]

13. I know one of the reporters

and though she can't express her opinion on air, she is on our side.
There are conservative in a way that they are a small town station and don't generally get very controversial. But they are decent folks and they have covered most of our larger peace rallies.

I will be contacting them again to offer my thanks for their efforts in addressing the Nightline issue.

[G_j]

14. statement at wpvm radio

our beloved low powered FM radio station www.wpvm.org (streaming on-line also, check it out, it's a great station!)

Commentary on Sinclair Broadcasting/WLOS Nightline Preemption

By Wally Bowen, Executive Director, Mountain Area Information Network

On Friday night, millions of viewers of ABC Television's "Nightline" program will hear news anchor Ted Koppel read the names of more than 500 American men and women killed in action in Iraq. However, viewers of local ABC affiliate, WLOS TV-13, will be excluded from the regular Nightline audience.

The reason is that Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns WLOS and 62 other TV stations, claims that Ted Koppel and ABC are, ". . . motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq."

The statement from Sinclair Broadcasting headquarters in Baltimore goes on to state that the corporation "does not believe such political statements should be disguised as news content. As a result, we have decided to preempt the broadcast of 'Nightline' this Friday on each of our stations which airs ABC programming."

What evidence does Sinclair have that the reading of the names of those Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq is nothing more than a public commemoration of that sacrifice? Even if Sinclair Broadcasting has evidence that ABC and Ted Koppel are politically motivated, does Sinclair believe that viewers of WLOS are less capable of detecting "political statements . . . disguised as news content" than other viewers of ABC affiliates not owned by Sinclair?

We called WLOS TV here in Asheville in the hope of getting some answers to these questions. Station manager Les Vann took our call but said only that Sinclair's action was "a corporate decision" -- and that was all he was allowed to say. He did, however, encourage viewers to send him any questions or concerns, so that he could pass them on to Sinclair's corporate headquarters to be entered into the station's public file.

This is important, because Sinclair's FCC license to operate WLOS -- using our public airwaves at no charge -- expires on Dec. 1 of this year. Viewers of WLOS have until Nov. 1, 2004 to comment on how Sinclair is meeting the FCC license requirement to serve the "public interest, convenience and necessity." We believe that denying local ABC viewers access to such an important broadcast is a violation of this public trust.

We hope you will contact WLOS and the FCC tell them what you think about this outrageous example of corporate censorship.

Information about the license renewal and commenting process may be found on the FCC's web site by clicking here. Contact information for WLOS may be found here.

This has been a WPVM editorial comment. WPVM is a broadcast service of the Mountain Area Information Network.

[CatWoman]

15. My best Edna Krababble voice

HAH

[G_j]

16. HAH

so thats how their subilimninalal message works!

lol