A Reply from a CBS Affliate VP of Broadcast Stations on Reagan Mini-Series

10/27/2003 | Babsig

[Babsig]

On Friday I Emailed the General Manager of our local CBS Station regarding the Reagan mini-series. The following letter:

Dear General Manager,

It has come to my attention that the upcoming CBS mini-series on Ronald Reagan depicts one of our greatest presidents in a derogatory manner. The show is full of misrepresentations, misquotes, and flat-out lies. CBS has made a conscious decision to conspire with the left wing fanatics of Hollywood in an endeavor to attack and rewrite history on one of the greatest presidents of our time, former President Reagan.

As General Manager of a CBS affilate, you have the decision whether to broadcast this piece of garbage. I hope that WSPA makes the right decision not to air this mini-series.

My whole extended family will be boycotting not only all CBS's national programming, like CSI, AMY, JAG, JOAN, LETTERMAN, HACK, GUARDIAN, SURVIVOR, etc., but also WSPA's local news shows and sponsors if your station elects to show this series. Be assured the news of this "boycott" will be broadcasted and implemented thoughout the WSPA area. I hope you will please pass this information on to CBS Headquarters in NYC.

Sincerely, XXX

Today this is the reponse from the GM and VP

Ms. XXX, You may have better information than I do, but I am trying to learn more about this program so that I can make an informed decision. In the meantime, I choose not to simply accept the opinions being offered by various talk show hosts on this sensitive subject. If this show airs, I hope you will consider watching and forming your own opinion about how President Reagan was treated. The little I've heard suggests that he is presented quite favorably. Thank you for contacting us. John Cottingham Vice President of Broadcast Stations Media General Broadcasting Group

-----Original Message----- From: Pennington, Karen G. Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 10:45 AM To: Cottingham, John R. Subject: FW: CBS Mini Series on Reagan

John, Please reply. Thanks! Kay __________________________________ Kay Pennington Assistant to the VP/General Manager NewsChannel 7(WSPA-TV)

What y'll think?

[harpu]

Keep calling, faxing, and emailing these bozos. They WILL get our message if we keep it up!!

[Wphile]

CBS SUCKS!! Watch it? NO WAY. And I'm not supporting any of their sponsors either. AND I'm letting the sponsors know all about that.

[Roberts]

I'd give the guy 72 hours and then ask him what "informed decision" he's reached.

[Poseidon]

"...the opinions being offered by various talk show hosts..."

Where did this comment come from???

[Hildy]

At this point I think that CBS will air it just because THEY believe they will get great ratings. We really need to get our side to completely boycott thism movie. Dems have no attention span for a mini-series, so they probably won't tune in. We need to make this the worst ratings disaster, ever. If not, expect more of these hatchet jobs. I think it's getting to the point where they don't even care as much as getting their ideology out there. Casepoint: Whoopie aired a show that was so egregious in its hatred towards George Bush that it was shocking. Although it was terribly rated, they REPEATED THE VERY SAME EPISODE two nights later then ceremoniously announced they will renew the show, although it has one of the poorest rating of the night. We can only deduce that they care more about the message than the ratings.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Agree. GM knows how I feel (Chevy is sponsoring this).
I took the same position with TIME Magazine several years ago when they decided to attack the RKBA by running a series on suicides which was a complete distortion. I've never picked up a copy of Time since and when they ask for my subscription, I always send their little envelopes back empty.

[netmilsmom]

>>In the meantime, I choose not to simply accept the opinions being offered by various talk show hosts on this sensitive subject. If this show airs, I hope you will consider watching and forming your own opinion about how President Reagan was treated. The little I've heard suggests that he is presented quite favorably<<

And just who has he heard this from?? Has he viewed the miniseries or just "heard" about it. I listened to the cuts on Rush w/Drudge on Friday. First hand, this is slander. Where has he heard otherwise?

Tell him that you will only consider watching if you get a sneak preview without the commercials and you plan on telling the sponsors that you will not be watching their ads when it airs.

[11th Earl of Mar]

The little I've heard suggests that he is presented quite favorably.

He must think that CBS's Reagan claim, "I am the anti-Christ" is a compliment.

Maybe most liberals aspire to be the anti-Christ themselves and so they see no unfavorable presentation on the part of CBS.

[SAJ]

Missouri BUMP!

Spot on, mate...make 'em pay for the privilege of being offensive asses!

[FourtySeven]

To me CBS is already a lost cause. The fact that they were/are going to air this mini-series is not all that shocking to me, and I never really felt like they could be persuaded otherwise. But hey, that doesn't mean a good bit of letter writing isn't a good idea. More power to ya.

[jimbo123]

CBS: JoAnn Ross
Advertising Sales Vice President
Phone: 212-975-2095
E-mail: jcross@cbs.com

Mr. Sumner Redstone, Chairman Viacom International
1515 Broadway New York, NY 10036
Ph: (212) 258-6000
Fax: (212) 258-6311
Email: sumner.redstone@viacom.com

Mel Karmazin, CEO
Viacom
1515 Broadway, 52 Floor
New York, NY 10036
Phone: 212-258-6000
Fax: 212-846-1980
Email: mel.karmazin@viacom.com

Les Moonves, President and CEO
CBS Television, Inc.
CBS Television City
7800 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Tel.: 323-575-2345
Fax: 323-651-0285

http://www.cbs.com/sales/contact/contact.shtml

http://www.cbs.com/sales/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/31/utility/main517034.shtml

http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.shtml

[ladyinred]

Perhaps he DIDN"T hear the actual sound track that Drudge played on Rush's show last week? You can't say that is just some right wing fanatic talk show host's opinion, can you? Or maybe he feels those excerpts were favorable to Reagan? HAH!

[aynrandfreak]

This is all just a big publicity stunt to get ratings. They are letting it leak that it's very negative to get the Reagan haters watching. Then they'll cut out most of the "controversial" scenes by the final edit. They are just trying to gin up interest & it's worked so far.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I dunno.
Advertisers cannot like what they're hearing about boycotts of their products.

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

"...the opinions being offered by various talk show hosts..."

Where did this comment come from???

I think its coming from their very own Inbox. *They are scared* Blood is in the water.

Lets get em! No gaystapo Clinton apologist wackos kick Ronald Reagan when he's down in a public forum if we have anything to say about it.

[Wolverine]

WSPA-TV

General Manager: genmgr@wspa.com

Programming: sfareed@wspa.com

Sponsor Chevy

Email every Chevy dealership in the TV area. Include the sales department, showroom, repair and service department, including their respective used car lots. Locate email addys for the Chevy Regional Distribution. Let them know that you will not be utilizing their facilities.

[thoughtomator]

Whatever you do, don't reward them by watching it.

[ClancyJ]

In other words, it will be decided when it airs.

What a bunch of PR work.

[aynrandfreak]

The boycott stuff will fizzle if the Aids scene is taken out