Because it apparently presents a too-positive view of Iraq and they don’t want to alienate their anti-war viewers.

Amid the deaths and the grim daily struggle bravely borne by Britain’s forces in southern Iraq, one tale of heroism stands out.

Private Johnson Beharry’s courage in rescuing an ambushed foot patrol then, in a second act, saving his vehicle’s crew despite his own terrible injuries earned him a Victoria Cross.

For the BBC, however, his story is “too positive” about the conflict.

The corporation has cancelled the commission for a 90-minute drama about Britain’s youngest surviving Victoria Cross hero because it feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq.

Of course, the BBC doesn’t worry about alienating any viewers when they program shows like “Me And My Man Breasts.” But aren’t we always told that the reason for public-sponsored broadcast media (the BBC is funded by British tax dollars) is that it facilitates creativity?  Different perspectives?  It puts programs on the air that maybe wouldn’t see the light of day normally?

I don’t entirely buy into that, and neither do the leftists who support publicly-funded broadcasting.  Which is why the failure to pick up this movie about a hero soldier probably had more to do with the politics of the folks at the BBC than any real concern about alienating viewers.

Sort of the same reasoning journalists employ when they decide that stories of progress and heroics in Iraq/Afghanistan aren’t newsworthy.  Which kind of makes it not at all surprising that most of America’s public (and most of the British public as well) would have a vaguely bad taste about the war in Iraq in their mouths.  When all they ever hear is bad news, while the good news is suppressed, why wouldn’t they feel that way?