MEDIA MATTERS
Americans urged to flood NBC with Pledge outrage
CNN commentator: 'Those responsible ought to be fired, posthaste'

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Posted: June 22, 2011
4:31 pm Eastern


By Joe Kovacs
© 2011 WND


The American Family Association is now urging citizens offended by NBC's omission of "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance at the U.S. Open golf championship Sunday to flood the network with outrage, and demand a better explanation for what it calls a "grossly unpatriotic act."



"Astonishingly, NBC edited the words 'under God' out of the Pledge not once but twice," said Tim Wildmon, president of the AFA.

In an email alert, Wildmon is calling on people to vent their thoughts to NBC, as he provides specific names and contact numbers:

National Broadcasting Company, Inc.
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
212-664-4444
nbcsportshelp@nbcuni.com

Chris McCloskey - V.P., Communications
NBC Sports
(212) 664-5598
christopher.mccloskey@nbcuni.com

Wildmon also proffers the following talking points for those inclined to make their opinion known:

1. I am furious with NBC for leaving "under God" out of the Pledge not once but twice in Sunday's coverage of the U.S. Open golf championship.
2. NBC's on-air apology is completely unsatisfactory, because NBC did not admit which part of the Pledge had been removed.

3. I am calling to insist on an explanation from NBC for this grossly unpatriotic act.

As WND reported over the weekend, the broadcast commenced with children standing in a classroom setting, reciting the "edited" version of the Pledge, saying: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, with liberty and justice for all."

The real version of the pledge has the phrase "under God, indivisible" following "one nation."

NBC's version of the Pledge got even more abbreviated moments later during the same opening, as the children stated, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, with liberty and justice for all."

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Later in the broadcast, announcer Dan Hicks apologized on behalf of the network, claiming the omission had no malicious intent.

Ironically, Hicks never specified that it was the words "under God" that were omitted, stating only: "We began our coverage of this final round just about three hours ago. When we did, it was our intent to begin our coverage of this U.S. Open championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship, held in our nation's capital for the third time. Regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone, and we'd like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it."

That apology apparently was not enough, as the network released another statement this week stating:

"We are aware of the distress this has caused many of our viewers and are taking the issue very seriously. Unfortunately, when producing the piece – which was intended to capitalize on the patriotism of having our national championship played in our nation's capital – a decision was made by a small group of people to edit portions of the Pledge of Allegiance. This was a bad decision."

Wildmon of the AFA is far from the only one to weigh in on the dispute.

CNN commentator Jack Cafferty publicly called on NBC to fire whomever was behind the edits.

"It boggles the mind that a bunch of morons at NBC can take it upon themselves to decide which part to include, and which part to omit," said Cafferty. "Those responsible ought to be fired, posthaste."



The network indicated if disciplinary action were to be taken, it would be done internally and not be made public.

Louisiana-based columnist Jeff Crouere wrote: "This was not some random mistake, but a clear signal from NBC that the words 'under God' were somehow controversial or inappropriate. Tragically, a radical agnostic or secular humanist belief permeates our television networks and our film studios. ...

"The apology was unsatisfactory and the insane edit to our Pledge of Allegiance will not be soon forgotten. The network's agenda has now been exposed to viewers who need to understand the warped mentality of so many executives who manage our television networks."

Radio host Rush Limbaugh, a well-known golfer himself, responded to the controversy by saying, "For [under God] not to show up on NBC, somebody had to take it out, which is an actual physical movement or decision."

He added, "I think the lesson here for NBC is if it was an accident, they ought to learn how much this really matters to people. I don't think they really know that."

WND conducted an unscientific poll on the matter, asking readers to sound off on NBC's omission of "under God."

With nearly 4,000 responses, the top answer with 54 percent of the vote was "This kind of targeted attack on America's Christian heritage should not go unanswered. Boycott, protest and someone needs to lose their job!"

In second place at 17 percent was "Further proof the mainstream media have an inherently anti-Christian bias."

And in a virtual tie for third with 12 percent each were "That does it! I'm done with NBC" and "The clowns in charge of major media just don't get it when it comes to American values."



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