ABC Contrasts Inaugural with Funeral
for Marine Killed in Iraq
The day after the ABC News Web site posted a request for information about military funerals on Inauguration Day for any soldier killed in Iraq, during live Inauguration coverage on Thursday Peter Jennings used the protester prop of flag-draped coffins as a cue to highlight how "some people" see the decision to bar the media from showing coffins arriving at Dover is meant to "isolate the American public from the tragedy of war." Later, on World News Tonight, Jennings contrasted the Inaugural festivities with how "in Rockport, Texas today, just about the time the President was speaking, there was a funeral for a young Marine reservist: 21-year-old Matthew Holloway was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bomb."
Blogger John Hinderaker, on his Powerline blog, gave publicity to how ABCNews.com posted this request Wednesday:
"For a possible Inauguration Day story on ABC News, we are trying to find out if there any military funerals for Iraq war casualties scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20. If you know of a funeral and whether the family might be willing to talk to ABC News, please fill out the form below."
For the Powerline posting: powerlineblog.com
ABCNews.com quickly pulled the posting, but another blogger, Edward Morrissey, posted a rough approximation of the original page: www.captainsquartersblog.com
Peter Jennings' priorities on Thursday certainly confirmed the agenda behind the posting.
A bit past 2pm EST, Jennings noted how he "caught a glimpse there on the monitor of what looked to be a collection of coffins laid out somewhere with the American flag on them." Jennings, as tracked down on the DVR by the MRC's Jessica Barnes, used that as a cue to denounce Bush administration policy on returning bodies:
"So there is part of the demonstration today. I know this brings up a very sensitive subject for many, many Americans, and that is the decision by the Bush administration not to let the press see men or women who've been killed in Iraq returning home to Dover, Delaware. The pictures of the coffins are simply not available to be seen by the public, and some people who are opposed to the war -- even if they're not opposed to the war -- make the point that this absence of coffins, this inability for the American public to see coffins, is to somehow isolate the American public from the tragedy of war."
On Thursday's World News Tonight, Jennings, over video of a flag-draped casket in a church, a picture of the killed Marine, a flag being folded over the casket and scenes of grieving funeral attendees, pointed out:
"In Rockport, Texas today, just about the time the President was speaking, there was a funeral for a young Marine reservist: 21-year-old Matthew Holloway was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bomb. His brother told a local paper that as much as Matthew wanted to be home, he was very proud of what he was doing in Iraq. And it is something you hear from so many people in the services, including the ten thousand who have already been wounded."
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