Is it any surprise that CBS will gladly take money from the Bush White House’s anti-drug office, but not from PETA or MoveOn.org? The organization is trying to run an ad that won a contest to get the truth out to the American people about the damage Bush has done to this country. Running this ad during the Super Bowl would be a huge win. But CBS won’t run it, even though MoveOn has the money to pay for it. Read the below message for the political connection that’s at work here between Republicans in Congress and CBS.
Please help protect free speech and sign this petition to CBS.
Subject: The ad CBS will not air
Dear friend,
During this year’s Super Bowl, you’ll see ads sponsored by beer companies, tobacco companies, and the Bush White House. But you won’t see the winning ad in MoveOn.org Voter Fund’s Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest. CBS refuses to air it.
Meanwhile, the White House and Congressional Republicans are on the verge of signing into law a deal which Senator John McCain (R-AZ) says is custom-tailored for CBS and Fox, allowing the two networks to grow much bigger. CBS lobbied hard for this rule change; MoveOn.org members across the country lobbied against it; and now the MoveOn.org ad has been rejected while the White House ad will be played. It looks an awful lot like CBS is playing politics with the right to free speech.
Of course, this is bigger than just the MoveOn.org Voter Fund. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) submitted an ad that was also rejected. We need to let CBS know that this practice of arbitrarily turning down ads that may be “controversial” — especially if they’re controversial simply because they take on the President — just isn’t right.
To watch the ad that CBS won’t air and sign the petition to CBS to run these ads, go to: http://www.moveon.org/cbs/ad/
MoveOn.org will deliver the petition by email directly to CBS headquarters.
Thanks.
(Thanks, Glenn, for reminding me to post this online.)
2 responses so far ↓
1 Dave Reed // Jan 23, 2004 at 2:11 pm
(Gabe’s going to hate me for this one. 🙂 )
I can’t blame CBS for either decision. Despite that I’d probably agree with MoveOn.org’s position, CBS would never run an ad that they know would be horrendously unpopular. For the most part, a public, highly-critical ad against the President wouldn’t be very good right now. While I’m thinking of it, how would this apply to the “equal time” law for politicians running for office? That’s something I’m not clear about.
As for PETA, if their advertising schemes hadn’t completely been over the edge and completely inappropriate, they might not have had such a problem. Their proven track record of insanity is their own undoing. (I didn’t really see the ad they have online, but, from what I could gather, the subject matter would have been completely inappropriate for the time slot. I think the FCC might have problems with it.)
Overall, making your stance against censorship is great. Just make sure that it’s reasonable.
2 Patrick Gavin // Jan 25, 2004 at 10:31 pm
The thing that really scares me is that not one major media outlet has done a story on this. There aren’t any news stories with links to the ads so that people can decide for themselves. The “Hiter” ads got plenty of media coverage. Why the silence now?
-P