Here is Rabbi Waskow's statement as to how he viewed the Nightline "town meeting" that ABC aired on thursday Jan 27.
Note: The two other accounts he refers to are mine (Mitch Potts) and U.N Consultant Chris Tennants' which are both posted in my original diary entry
Also, I recieved a phone call today from a woman who is the Washington bureau chief for the Casa Blanca Le Journal who made a comment at the beginning of the show regarding the media, and she told me that her statement was severely edited... specifically, her commments comparing Fox News to Aljazeera.
Continue on to read Rabbi Waskow's statement as posted on his website, http://www.shalomctr.org/
Dear Friends,
This report will begin with a letter to Ted Koppel, in which I explain why his behavior and that of his staff toward all the participants (including me, an invited guest) in what was billed as a "town meeting' on the Iraq war was un-menschlich, unprofessional, shameful, an example of "bait-and-switch" behavior, and a violation of his obligations as a host and as a journalist. My letter urges him to apologize, publicly. the letter follows.
Shalom, Arthur
*********
A Prophetic Voice in Jewish, Multireligious, and American Life
6711 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia PA 19119
215/844-8494 www.shalomctr.org office@shalomctr.org
February 1, 2005
Mr. Ted Koppel
ABC News
1717 De Sales St., NW,
Washington, DC 20036
Dear Mr. Koppel,
Though I was an invited guest to your recent town meeting at St. Johns Church, both your audience as a whole and I individually were treated abominably by your producers and yourself.
I was originally invited to take part in what you call the front row, with an assurance I would get to comment as a leader of Americas religious communities. Then on the night before the program, that invitation was rescinded. I was told you had decided to weight the program in the direction of military presence and diminish the role of religion. I was invited to be only a member of the audience, though nevertheless I was assured I would get to ask a question.
When I arrived, that all seemed set. But as soon as I gave your staffer a written note embodying my question, the atmosphere changed and I was told I would not be allowed to ask it.
The question spoke from an ancient religious perspective about the danger that some of those who hold power can become addicted to their own power and can bring destruction on their society. It connected this memory of the biblical Pharaoh to our present rulers.
Its content was unacceptable.
That was why I spoke out in the commercial break to deliver this message, and the exclusion of such views is why a large part of your audience applauded what I said.
If your show were a used-car lot, the correct description for it would be bait and switch. For it was not I alone who was fooled and switched. Your entire audience thought they were to get a real town meeting, at least as honest and open as the one you ran in March 2003, two weeks before the invasion of Iraq. What they got instead was a flack job for the Bush Administrations war and occupation, contradicted only by Congresswoman Schakowski.
Lest you think my assessment bespeaks only the hurt feelings of one individual, I am enclosing similar assessments from two others who were present. I do not know them, and received their comments via Email.
You should be ashamed of your un-menschlich behavior toward all your invited guests. You should be ashamed of betraying your trust and profession as a journalist.
I urge you to apologize on-camera to your national audience for your misleading make-believe town meeting, and I urge you to produce a balanced examination of the war, including voices from the religious communities of this nation that you silenced last week.
In the path of shalom,
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Director