Notice anything missing from the Pledge of Allegiance in this clip from NBC Sports?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-S8K_jQAswHere’s how it’s supposed to go, in case you don’t know:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Some people don’t believe in God, which is fine. (The “under God” part wasn’t added by Congress until the ’50s, and America seemed to be doing fine without it before then.) Some people don’t think little kids should be made to say the Pledge of Allegiance, which is libertarian. But “under God” was added by Congress, and those kids did say the Pledge in class, and somebody did send a camera crew to film it. Seems like a notable edit on NBC’s part, not just once but twice. If the idea is to show patriotism, you should probably show the whole thing or not at all.
Now NBC is apologizing:
NBC issued an on-air apology Sunday for omitting the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance during its coverage of golf’s U.S. Open.
The words were edited out of a clip of children reciting the oath — a move immediately noted by viewers, who took to Twitter and various blogs to voice their anger, the Huffington Post reported.
In a statement during the broadcast, NBC commentator Dan Hicks said, “We began our coverage of this final round just about three hours ago and when we did it was our intent to begin the coverage of this U.S. Open Championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship being 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.”
Golf is boring anyway. But this is a start. As long as you’re in the mood for apologies, NBC, let’s talk about this Brian Williams guy…