By Reid Collins on 5.27.03 @ 12:18AM
Television's unforgivable insult to our war dead.
It is routine. The President waits in front of the amphitheater
entrance for the wreath to come forward and then he moves forward
with it and places it on a stand before the Tomb of the Unknowns.
After taps, the party repairs to the amphitheater itself where the
colors are presented, the President speaks, a benediction is said,
and the nation once more has memorialized its war dead. It is
stirringly the same through the years, an event that decency
requires be covered by those licensees of the public good and
interest. It disappeared this year.
Not entirely. MSNBC and CNN carried most of it while the
broadcast affiliates in Washington, D.C. went about their usual
weekday drivel. A game show here, a screaming phony judge there, a
guy explaining to a group of women how he had his nose pierced over
there, the faux animals running around for the kiddies on PBS. In
addition to the aforementioned commercial cable outfits, one C-Span
channel carried the Arlington Memorial Day Observance in its
entirety. It should be noted that both MSNBC and CNN were gone
before the benediction and the retirement of the colors to some
stirring themes of the military services. Only C-Span stuck it out
until not only was the official program ended, but also we saw the
veteran's veteran Bob Dole embracing a comely blonde on the stage
before he took his leave.
It is true that this annual event follows a tradition that
affords no surprises. No temporary mate is selected from among a
gaggle of applicants; no one is voted off the platform by his
companions; no strained set of vocal cords is selected for a
recording contract; in sort, it just ain't good TV. What is it? It
is an American obligation. It is 35 minutes of duty out of 365 days
of play. It is an interval which, some years ago, it would be
unthinkable for any broadcast network not to carry. And to make it
"must carry" for affiliates.
The excuse for maintaining normal, and remunerative, programming
nowadays is the proliferation of cable channels and the prospect
that somebody somewhere will carry this money-losing proposition.
And if you want to see it just keep clicking. But does any
executive sit alone in his Cape den on a Memorial Day holiday and
happen across it and have the nagging thought: "Gee, I wish we were
carrying that. I mean ..."
I wish you were, too. I wish you and the other nets were risking
a charge of collusion by carrying a solemn, dignifying moment all
together so that no matter how escape-prone the viewer there would
be no looking away for just that little span of time. So little in
the reach of it all. So much in the realm of those for whom there
is no more time.
P. S. Not to worry. The FCC is considering some rule-making that
may one day allow one guy to own all of it, and you won't have to
answer to anybody.
topics:
Military
