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"Nightline" Controversy
Aired April 30, 2004 - 14:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A fitting tribute or anti-war propaganda? ABC's "Nightline" plans a 40-minute litany of the more than 500 U.S. troops killed in Iraq. Network executives say tonight's show honors the dead but it won't run on seven stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair says the program is part of a political agenda to undermine the war in Iraq.
Joining us is media critic and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," Howard Kurtz. Howie, good to have you with us.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Let's read the Sinclair statement briefly. Just get that on the table here. It goes like this. "The action appears to be motived," the action meaning reading the names of the dead, "appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq. Mr. Koppel and `Nightline' are hiding behind this so-called tribute in an effort to highlight only one aspect of the war effort. And in doing so to influence public opinion against the military action in Iraq."
Do you think that's a true statement?
KURTZ: I think it's ludicrous. You want to talk about political agenda? Sinclair is a company that sent reporters to Iraq to report the good stories because they apparently think the media is so filled with anti-war liberal bias. Sinclair was a company whose top executives contributed $14,000 in soft money at the Republican National Committee before President Bush's inauguration.
Ironically, by taking this stand that we're going to keep "Nightline" off the air, what Sinclair has done is brought even more attention is what Ted Koppel is trying to do, as "Nightline" sees it, certainly is to those who has given their lives to the country.
O'BRIEN: And to that end, let's read the ABC statement for "Nightline." It's basically this: "`Nightline' seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country," end of quote.
There's been TV critics, including one in your own paper -- not you -- who've said, but have said this right around the beginning of the May ratings sweep, this is a stunt. What do you think?
KURTZ: I couldn't disagree with that more. I mean, I'm sure Ted Koppel is not completely unaware he might be drawing attention to himself and his broadcast by doing this. But as a ratings blockbuster, you know, having an anchor read more than 500 names over 40 minutes, I mean that's about one step above reading from the phone book. There's no great visual, no drama, no time line.
I think instead it is what it appears to be on its face, an effort to put a human face on the statistics we read in the paper every day about these people who have bravely gone to Iraq and some of whom tragically are being killed.
I don't see it as being part of an agenda. Certainly "Nightline" has covered the war and view points in the war. Maybe not perfectly. None of us in the media have done that. But I don't see this as some sort of propaganda.
O'BRIEN: A long way from "American Idol" when you start talking about ratings.
"Nightline" was inspired to do this by an issue of "Life" magazine in the midst of the Vietnam War where they took the names and faces of those who died over just one week's time. Of course, the body count at that time was tremendously high.
Do you recall if that particular issue had a great impact? Of course, it would be hard to separate that from the way the media was feeling in general at that time.
KURTZ: Yes, well, the country was so torn over Vietnam by that time, I'm sure it had an impact but it probably was a relative drop in the bucket. I mean just this week, my newspaper, "The Washington Post," "USA Today" have run full pages, color pictures of the latest round of soldiers unfortunately killed in Iraq. This is just the television version of that.
Now, those who are opposed of the war I'm sure will see this as an opportunity to focus on the human cause and maybe see it as an argument why we shouldn't remain in Iraq much longer. But there are also those who say this is a tribute, that this is a recognition that people are fighting and dying in the service of trying to bring some measure of democracy to that war-torn country.
So I think the country maybe not in as quite emotional way as in Vietnam days, but is very torn over the war in Iraq. And that's why you have such conflicting emotions over this planned broadcast by Ted Koppel.
O'BRIEN: Yes, front the page of "USA Today" shows those who died in this terribly bloody month in Iraq. So they're -- it's not simply just "Nightline."
I'm curious at what point do we get into a situation like the famous moment when Walter Cronkite reporting from Vietnam indicated that the war was not going well. And famously Lyndon Johnson said, if I've lost Walter Cronkite, I've lost the average citizen.
KURTZ: I don't know if we do because at that time, you know, probably 1/3 or more of the country watched the CBS evening news. There were only three networks on the air. Now we're all drowning in 24-hour news on all kinds of cable channels, Internet and so forth. So no single journalist or anchor or commentator commands that kind of following.
But at the same time I think this sort of thing is going to get a lot of attention, and it should. You know, again, I don't think it's some great ratings ploy for "Nightline."
But I do think it's a reminder. The administration would love to keep the media focus off of this. That's why they haven't allowed pictures of the coffins returning to Dover Air Force Base.
But the war is ugly at tiles and we can't whitewash it by pretending these are not real human beings who sacrificed their lives. And if 40 minutes is going to at least remind people about that, I don't think that's entirely bad use of television time.
O'BRIEN: Howard Kurtz of "RELIABLE SOURCES" and "The Washington Post," thanks for your time. Appreciate it.
KURTZ: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Back with more LIVE FROM... in a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 30, 2004 - 14:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A fitting tribute or anti-war propaganda? ABC's "Nightline" plans a 40-minute litany of the more than 500 U.S. troops killed in Iraq. Network executives say tonight's show honors the dead but it won't run on seven stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair says the program is part of a political agenda to undermine the war in Iraq.
Joining us is media critic and host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," Howard Kurtz. Howie, good to have you with us.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Let's read the Sinclair statement briefly. Just get that on the table here. It goes like this. "The action appears to be motived," the action meaning reading the names of the dead, "appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq. Mr. Koppel and `Nightline' are hiding behind this so-called tribute in an effort to highlight only one aspect of the war effort. And in doing so to influence public opinion against the military action in Iraq."
Do you think that's a true statement?
KURTZ: I think it's ludicrous. You want to talk about political agenda? Sinclair is a company that sent reporters to Iraq to report the good stories because they apparently think the media is so filled with anti-war liberal bias. Sinclair was a company whose top executives contributed $14,000 in soft money at the Republican National Committee before President Bush's inauguration.
Ironically, by taking this stand that we're going to keep "Nightline" off the air, what Sinclair has done is brought even more attention is what Ted Koppel is trying to do, as "Nightline" sees it, certainly is to those who has given their lives to the country.
O'BRIEN: And to that end, let's read the ABC statement for "Nightline." It's basically this: "`Nightline' seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country," end of quote.
There's been TV critics, including one in your own paper -- not you -- who've said, but have said this right around the beginning of the May ratings sweep, this is a stunt. What do you think?
KURTZ: I couldn't disagree with that more. I mean, I'm sure Ted Koppel is not completely unaware he might be drawing attention to himself and his broadcast by doing this. But as a ratings blockbuster, you know, having an anchor read more than 500 names over 40 minutes, I mean that's about one step above reading from the phone book. There's no great visual, no drama, no time line.
I think instead it is what it appears to be on its face, an effort to put a human face on the statistics we read in the paper every day about these people who have bravely gone to Iraq and some of whom tragically are being killed.
I don't see it as being part of an agenda. Certainly "Nightline" has covered the war and view points in the war. Maybe not perfectly. None of us in the media have done that. But I don't see this as some sort of propaganda.
O'BRIEN: A long way from "American Idol" when you start talking about ratings.
"Nightline" was inspired to do this by an issue of "Life" magazine in the midst of the Vietnam War where they took the names and faces of those who died over just one week's time. Of course, the body count at that time was tremendously high.
Do you recall if that particular issue had a great impact? Of course, it would be hard to separate that from the way the media was feeling in general at that time.
KURTZ: Yes, well, the country was so torn over Vietnam by that time, I'm sure it had an impact but it probably was a relative drop in the bucket. I mean just this week, my newspaper, "The Washington Post," "USA Today" have run full pages, color pictures of the latest round of soldiers unfortunately killed in Iraq. This is just the television version of that.
Now, those who are opposed of the war I'm sure will see this as an opportunity to focus on the human cause and maybe see it as an argument why we shouldn't remain in Iraq much longer. But there are also those who say this is a tribute, that this is a recognition that people are fighting and dying in the service of trying to bring some measure of democracy to that war-torn country.
So I think the country maybe not in as quite emotional way as in Vietnam days, but is very torn over the war in Iraq. And that's why you have such conflicting emotions over this planned broadcast by Ted Koppel.
O'BRIEN: Yes, front the page of "USA Today" shows those who died in this terribly bloody month in Iraq. So they're -- it's not simply just "Nightline."
I'm curious at what point do we get into a situation like the famous moment when Walter Cronkite reporting from Vietnam indicated that the war was not going well. And famously Lyndon Johnson said, if I've lost Walter Cronkite, I've lost the average citizen.
KURTZ: I don't know if we do because at that time, you know, probably 1/3 or more of the country watched the CBS evening news. There were only three networks on the air. Now we're all drowning in 24-hour news on all kinds of cable channels, Internet and so forth. So no single journalist or anchor or commentator commands that kind of following.
But at the same time I think this sort of thing is going to get a lot of attention, and it should. You know, again, I don't think it's some great ratings ploy for "Nightline."
But I do think it's a reminder. The administration would love to keep the media focus off of this. That's why they haven't allowed pictures of the coffins returning to Dover Air Force Base.
But the war is ugly at tiles and we can't whitewash it by pretending these are not real human beings who sacrificed their lives. And if 40 minutes is going to at least remind people about that, I don't think that's entirely bad use of television time.
O'BRIEN: Howard Kurtz of "RELIABLE SOURCES" and "The Washington Post," thanks for your time. Appreciate it.
KURTZ: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Back with more LIVE FROM... in a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
