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OK, sorry, one more.. . in case you didn't hear.

Now THIS is media bias:

By Michael Hastings

NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE

Feb. 13 -- Getting out the antiwar message has never been easy, but now
a peace group has accused one of America's largest media companies of
censorship for its refusal to run a national billboard campaign with the
slogan: INSPECTIONS WORK. WAR WON'T.
VIACOM, THE OWNER of a number of media outlets like CBS and MTV,
says it is just following company policy. But Wes Boyd, president of
MoveOn.org says the media giant is playing fast and loose with the right
to free speech. "Viacom won't place our ads," says Boyd.
MoveOn.org, the group that put up the money for the campaign,
first gained public attention after running the controversial "daisy"
television spot riffing on an ad from Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964
presidential campaign that juxtaposed a little girl pulling petals from a
flower against the backdrop of a nuclear explosion. Yesterday morning, the
organization--which describes itself as a grass-roots advocacy
group--solicited donations over an e-mail list to raise $75,000 to plaster
its latest message against war in Iraq on the sides of buses, buildings
and billboards in four major American markets.
According to Boyd, the donations came rolling in--after just two
hours the group had met its goal. About 75 percent of that money was
slated for buses in Washington and billboards in Los Angeles and Detroit,
markets where Viacom Outdoor--a division of Viacom Inc. and the largest
outdoor-advertising entity in North America--controls a significant share
of the outdoor-advertising space. And Boyd says that unlike the "daisy" TV
spot, this was meant to be "a clean political message." (The "daisy" ad
ran into trouble but on a lesser scale. Only four television stations
nixed the ad; three in L.A. and one in Washington.)
But yesterday afternoon, MoveOn.org received word from Metromark
International, an advertising and media brokerage firm that was hired to
buy ad space for the group, saying that Viacom refused to put up the ads.
The rejection came as a surprise to Lou Manso, the Metromark buyer
handling the sale. He says the regional Viacom representatives in Los
Angeles hadn't given any indication that there was going to be a problem.
The art for the billboard was submitted on Monday, and there was no
indication that it would be rejected, he said. But on Wednesday, a
regional Viacom representative told Manso that Wally Kelly, CEO of Viacom
Outdoor, had personally decided not to run the ads. Manso received an
e-mail that said: "Our main office has decided to decline this business."
Manso says he was not given any reasons for the decision, except that it
was Viacom's space and they could do what they wanted with it. "I'm very
disappointed," says Manso. "I didn't feel that this campaign was offensive
or in poor taste. You have [the decision of] one person in Phoenix, and it
affects all the markets in the U.S."
Viacom, however, says it had legitimate reasons to decline the
advertisements. "The issue was not the content of the ad, but the
guidelines for taking ads from organizations of this type," a Viacom
spokesperson told NEWSWEEK. "They didn't meet the guidelines." According
to the spokesperson, those guidelines are: to pay upfront; to give a
30-day advance notice of the ad, and to display contact information on the
billboard. A Viacom official said the organization did not comply with the
first two. The official also said the company is more cautious with
political ads and dot-com organizations. But Manso says that Viacom is
"backpedaling" because they've been embarrassed. "At no time were we
presented with guidelines," he says, noting that he dealt with sales reps
in four cities. "And that's just not the way business is done."
Of course, this isn't the first time antiwar groups have said that
they have had problems getting their message out. TrueMajority, a
celebrity-studded activist group says that the two antiwar ads that they
wanted to run from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3 were refused by CNN, Fox, Comedy
Central and four New York affiliates. One of the ads showcased Susan
Sarandon alongside Edgar Peck, the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq; the
other costars Janeane Garofalo and Bishop Melvin G. Talbert of the United
Methodist Church. "It does not sound like free speech is alive and well in
this country," says Ben Cohen, founder of TrueMajority and cofounder of
the Ben & Jerry ice-cream company. "We can't even get our message out by
paying for advertising."
The latest ad spat comes as antiwar activists are gearing up for
an international day of protest in cities ranging from London to Jakarta
to Sao Paulo on Saturday. In New York, where a federal judge refused to
issue demonstrators a permit to march in front of the United Nations, a
new venue has been planned. MoveOn.org also intends to regroup to keep the
ad campaign alive. So far, says Boyd, 5,480 people had signed on for a
total of $212,515 in donations to run the billboards. The big question now
is where they will put them.

Fortunately, antiwar movements got some air time on CNN this morning
when they interviewed actor Danny Glover who will be speaking at
today's new york protests. However, the questions they asked him
were naive and ignorant as Mr. Glover had to explain to the
interviewer that the protests are not confined to "small groups" like
the one gathering in New York today and that in fact most of america
does not want this war to happen. Lets hope the world was tuning in
and realizes that the U.S. citizens do not agree with our governments
policies. Of course CNN is bought out by the horrifying AOL/time
warner conglomerate and will not unduly make our wonderful
big-business supporting government look bad.

-Quentin

-------------------
>
> OK, sorry, one more.. . in case you didn't hear.
>
> Now THIS is media bias:
>
>
>
>
> By Michael Hastings
>
> NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE
>
>
> Feb. 13 -- Getting out the antiwar message has never been easy,
but now
> a peace group has accused one of America's largest media companies
of
> censorship for its refusal to run a national billboard campaign with
the
> slogan: INSPECTIONS WORK. WAR WON'T.
> VIACOM, THE OWNER of a number of media outlets like CBS and
MTV,
> says it is just following company policy. But Wes Boyd, president of
> MoveOn.org says the media giant is playing fast and loose with the
right
> to free speech. "Viacom won't place our ads," says Boyd.
> MoveOn.org, the group that put up the money for the
campaign,
> first gained public attention after running the controversial
"daisy"
> television spot riffing on an ad from Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964
> presidential campaign that juxtaposed a little girl pulling petals
from a
> flower against the backdrop of a nuclear explosion. Yesterday
morning, the
> organization--which describes itself as a grass-roots advocacy
> group--solicited donations over an e-mail list to raise $75,000 to
plaster
> its latest message against war in Iraq on the sides of buses,
buildings
> and billboards in four major American markets.
> According to Boyd, the donations came rolling in--after just
two
> hours the group had met its goal. About 75 percent of that money was
> slated for buses in Washington and billboards in Los Angeles and
Detroit,
> markets where Viacom Outdoor--a division of Viacom Inc. and the
largest
> outdoor-advertising entity in North America--controls a significant
share
> of the outdoor-advertising space. And Boyd says that unlike the
"daisy" TV
> spot, this was meant to be "a clean political message." (The "daisy"
ad
> ran into trouble but on a lesser scale. Only four television
stations
> nixed the ad; three in L.A. and one in Washington.)
> But yesterday afternoon, MoveOn.org received word from
Metromark
> International, an advertising and media brokerage firm that was
hired to
> buy ad space for the group, saying that Viacom refused to put up the
ads.
> The rejection came as a surprise to Lou Manso, the Metromark
buyer
> handling the sale. He says the regional Viacom representatives in
Los
> Angeles hadn't given any indication that there was going to be a
problem.
> The art for the billboard was submitted on Monday, and there was no
> indication that it would be rejected, he said. But on Wednesday, a
> regional Viacom representative told Manso that Wally Kelly, CEO of
Viacom
> Outdoor, had personally decided not to run the ads. Manso received
an
> e-mail that said: "Our main office has decided to decline this
business."
> Manso says he was not given any reasons for the decision, except
that it
> was Viacom's space and they could do what they wanted with it. "I'm
very
> disappointed," says Manso. "I didn't feel that this campaign was
offensive
> or in poor taste. You have [the decision of] one person in Phoenix,
and it
> affects all the markets in the U.S."
> Viacom, however, says it had legitimate reasons to decline
the
> advertisements. "The issue was not the content of the ad, but the
> guidelines for taking ads from organizations of this type," a Viacom
> spokesperson told NEWSWEEK. "They didn't meet the guidelines."
According
> to the spokesperson, those guidelines are: to pay upfront; to give a
> 30-day advance notice of the ad, and to display contact information
on the
> billboard. A Viacom official said the organization did not comply
with the
> first two. The official also said the company is more cautious with
> political ads and dot-com organizations. But Manso says that Viacom
is
> "backpedaling" because they've been embarrassed. "At no time were we
> presented with guidelines," he says, noting that he dealt with sales
reps
> in four cities. "And that's just not the way business is done."
> Of course, this isn't the first time antiwar groups have
said that
> they have had problems getting their message out. TrueMajority, a
> celebrity-studded activist group says that the two antiwar ads that
they
> wanted to run from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3 were refused by CNN, Fox,
Comedy
> Central and four New York affiliates. One of the ads showcased Susan
> Sarandon alongside Edgar Peck, the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq;
the
> other costars Janeane Garofalo and Bishop Melvin G. Talbert of the
United
> Methodist Church. "It does not sound like free speech is alive and
well in
> this country," says Ben Cohen, founder of TrueMajority and cofounder
of
> the Ben & Jerry ice-cream company. "We can't even get our message
out by
> paying for advertising."
> The latest ad spat comes as antiwar activists are gearing up
for
> an international day of protest in cities ranging from London to
Jakarta
> to Sao Paulo on Saturday. In New York, where a federal judge refused
to
> issue demonstrators a permit to march in front of the United
Nations, a
> new venue has been planned. MoveOn.org also intends to regroup to
keep the
> ad campaign alive. So far, says Boyd, 5,480 people had signed on for
a
> total of $212,515 in donations to run the billboards. The big
question now
> is where they will put them.
>
>
>
>