"National Geographic Channel Pulls ‘Nazi War Diggers’ Series"

Despite tomorrow being April Fool's day, it seems to be true, the webpage is now blank, and surely not even NatGeo would make a classless joke about this now: 'National Geographic Channel Pulls ‘Nazi War Diggers’ Series' reports Tom Mashberg (New York Times Art Beat blog, March 31, 2014). I have not located the original statement, most news on the subject available at the time of writing comes from Mashberg's report.

National Geographic Channel said Monday that it would “indefinitely” pull a planned television series on unearthing Nazi war graves after days of blistering criticism from archeologists and others who said the show handled the dead with macabre disrespect. The channel said that after “consulting with colleagues” at the National Geographic Society, it would not broadcast the series, “Nazi War Diggers,” in May as scheduled “while questions raised in recent days regarding accusations about the program can be properly reviewed.” The show was to have been broadcast globally except in the United States. [...] National Geographic Channel issued a statement Friday defending the show and saying the criticism was premature, based on early publicity materials that “did not provide important context about our team’s methodology.” The channel pulled those materials from its website. That did not appease archeologists, battlefield historians and others, who have mounted a social-media and a letter-writing campaign aimed in particular at the National Geographic Society to derail the show. [...]  In its statement, the National Geographic Channel said that “while we support the goal of the series, which is to tell the stories of long lost and forgotten soldiers,” it takes “seriously the questions that have been asked.”

I must say most of us thought they were going to brazen it out and go ahead.

UPDATE 1/4/2014
Here is the statement from the "i - Go Detecting" (Steve Broom) blog:

STATEMENT National Geographic Channels International, in consultation with colleagues at the National Geographic Society, announced today that it will pull the series Nazi War Diggers from its schedule indefinitely while questions raised in recent days regarding allegations about the program can be properly reviewed. While we support the goal of the series, which is to tell the stories of long lost and forgotten soldiers, those left behind and still unaccounted for, and illuminate history working in concert with local governments and authorities, we also take seriously the questions that have been asked. National Geographic Channels is committed to engaging viewers in the exploration of the world and all of us associated with National Geographic are committed to doing our work with the highest standards. We know the same holds true for our producing partners, including our partners on this series.