Bias: ABC Searched for Military Funerals on Inauguration Day

ABC News placed ads searching for soldiers' funerals taking place on the day of President George W. Bush's second inauguration to air alongside pictures of the Washington celebrations.

Jan. 19, 2005 - For a possible Inauguration Day story on ABC News, we are trying to find out if there (sic) any military funerals for Iraq war casualties scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20. If you know a funeral and whether the family might be willing to talk to ABC News, please fill out the form below:

Of course war casualties are newsworthy, but I think this is a blatent attempt by ABC to take advantage of families who are experiencing a horrible loss to try to rain on George Bush's inauguration. The ad pointed out the funeral had to be someone lost in the war in Iraq; no need to apply if your loved one died in Afghanistan or the tsunami humanitarian effort. After getting some publicity from bloggers and other media outlets, ABC pulled the ad and apparently did not air any funeral coverage during the inauguration.

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[edit on 1/22/2005 by djohnsto77]

thats pretty discusting, but im not suprised. network television, in general, always wants to out do the next channel by offering a little more. especially in inagurations and state of the union addresses. since basically all of the major channels cover the exact same event with almost the exact same angle they have to do something to make themselves "better." i pity ABC news for (almost) doing this, all they did (in my eyes anyway) is just make themselves look bad. and to exclude soldiers that died in afganistan and the tsunami relief effort, that sort of makes me angry!

ABC

Mayeb such a story would have reminded American's what their President won't admit. The TRUTH!

Originally posted by TalibanKillah
Mayeb such a story would have reminded American's what their President won't admit. The TRUTH!

The U.S. government releases updated casualty lists all of the time, nobody is hiding anything.

Can you explain to me how this is media bias?

Originally posted by Nerdling
Can you explain to me how this is media bias?

Do you think they'd be doing this if it was Kerry getting inaugurated? He publically said he would continue current U.S. policy in Iraq.

Originally posted by djohnsto77

Originally posted by Nerdling
Can you explain to me how this is media bias?

Do you think they'd be doing this if it was Kerry getting inaugurated? He publically said he would continue current U.S. policy in Iraq.

Maybe you missed this part, but he also said only for six months. Six being the key word here as opposed to Bush's plan of well indefinitely.

Surf