Media concentration strikes again! This time it's Sinclair Broadcast Group, the Clear Channel of TV stations, which is pulling tonight's edition of Nightline from its ABC affiliates because the entire program will be dedicated to a tribute to fallen U.S. troops in Iraq, wherein anchor Ted Koppel will be reading aloud the names of hundreds of dead American servicemen and women as their photographs are shown.

Now Koppel gets to know what it's like to be a Dixie Chick, as Sinclair pulls a page from the Cumulus book -- that's the company that pulled all Dixie Chicks music from its stations last year after singer Natalie Maines criticized Bush on stage in London.

Although Sinclair's action will deprive seven cities of the program, the censorship, per se, is not the real point.

Just like the Dixie Chicks probably didn't lose any significant sales when their records were banned by radio stations, more people will be aware of this Nightline program and possibly tune in due to all the publicity, than who would otherwise.

Sinclair's -- and the Bush administration's -- objective is not to silence critics directly so much as to send the message that there will be swift retribution for crossing them. It may be that this is a test fire from Sinclair to see what kind of reaction comes against them for pulling Nightline, so they can see how much they can get away with in the future.

It's important to note in this tiff with ABC and Nighline that Sinclair will have 3 more ABC stations in 2005, when the company's Springfield, IL, Champaign, IL and Dayton, OH NBC stations switch affiliations. I reckon that Sinclair is eager to see how much leverage they can exert with ABC as it becomes one of the network's largest affiliate owners (if not the largest).

While Sinclair justifies its actions by claiming that Nightline's motive is to galvanize viewers against the war, those of us who have been paying attention to Sinclair know that the company is possibly more closely aligned with the Bush administration than even Clear Channel.

As the Daily Kos notes, the company or its directors have given over $200,000 to the RNC and Republican Candidates, and absolutely nothing to Democrats. Even Cheap Channel spreads the love around to both parties.

On top of that Sinclair Vice-President and on-air commentator Mark Hyman is a captain with an intelligence role in the U.S. Naval Reserves, who apparently sees no conflict of interest between his role as "journalist" and being on the payroll of Naval Intelligence. Hyman delights in his crusade to lambaste anyone who questions the war in Iraq, such as calling congresspeople who voted against a recent resolution of support for the war "just unpatriotic politicians who hate our military."

Sinclair's HQ is right in the backyard of the Baltimore Sun, which reports:

"After the September 2001 attacks, officials at Sinclair stations were directed to read on-air statements supporting the Bush administration's efforts against terrorism. The move prompted internal objections by journalists at WBFF-TV, Sinclair's flagship station in Baltimore, after anchors there were told to read similar statements on the air. "

We'll be talking about this extensively on this evening's mediageek radio show (5:30 PM WEFT 90.1 FM, archived on the website thereafter).