04/30/2004 Cleaning the war: Read about Sinclair Broadcasting Group's disgraceful attempt to sanitize the war in Iraq in the Washington Post. The company is refusing to allow its ABC affiliates air tonight’s Nightline episode — The Fallen —becuse it focuses on the human toll of the war. Apparently Sinclair execs — Republican contributors all — don’t want The People thinking too much about things like that in an election year. Send Sinclair CEO an e-mail here.

Sidebar from Common Cause: “Sinclair’s censorship is only a taste of the chokehold on information that media giants are able to achieve. This time, Sinclair’s censorship affected only the ABC affiliates it owns. But if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is permitted to deregulate media ownership, one company could shut off information it did not like to the hundreds of TV and radio stations, newspapers and cable systems it owns across the country.”

More sanitizing action: the photos the pentagon doesn't want you to see are at thememoryhole.org.