Posted on 10/26/2006 6:56:35 PM PDT by blogblogginaway
**Exclusive**
In an Ironic Twist of Events, NBC and The CW Television Network Refuse to Air Ads for Documentary Focusing on Freedom of Speech
NBC Claims that the Network Cannot Accept These Spots as They are Disparaging to President Bush
The CW Television Network that the Network Does Not have Appropriate Programming in which to Schedule this Spot
NBC and The CW Television Network have taken a stand against the Dixies Chicks new documentary Shut Up & Sing a behind-the-scenes look at the incredible political and media fallout that occurred in 2003 after the Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines said that she was "ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." Shut Up & Sing opens in theaters in NY and Los Angeles on Friday and in theaters nationwide on November 10th.
NBC responded to a clearance report submitted by the Weinstein Companys media agency saying that the network cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush.
The CW Television Network responded that it does not have appropriate programming in which to schedule this spot.
Famed litigator David Boies stated, It is disappointing and troubling that NBC and The CW would refuse to accept an otherwise appropriate ad merely because it is critical of President Bush."
Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Company stated, Its a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America. The idea that anyone should be penalized for criticizing the president is sad and profoundly un-American.
The Weinstein Company is exploring taking legal action.
The rejected commercials for Shut Up & Post can be viewed at http://www.shutupandpost.com
Developing...
Hey, you know this is just a singing group and everything but I'll risk scorn at my assertion that this is waaaay more important in so many ways that our bemused and shocked selves might consider it.
THIS is the only power us minions in the Middle Class of America has! We carry this country, indeed the world, on our collective backs. We are raising the next generation of citizens and soldiers out here in la-la land. And they want to take the one power we have away from us: the power to buy/see/listen/vote for whatever and whoever the hell we want!
They are trying to lead us stupid horses to water and we ain't drinking and they are pissed.
There is no law, no commandment, no ethical standard, no rules of conduct that we, the citizens of la-la land who abide by the law and support our families, are breaking by not buying records made by twits who spit directly in the eye of their most targeted audience.
With all of our power, the mighty Middle Class is notoriously difficult to organize but on the Dixie nothing Chicks we have banded together and refused to buy their product and they still want to piss on our feet and tell us it's raining.
I am so freaking insulted by these idiots who think they can make me feel guilty about not buying a product that they sell! I don't have to buy the product and I don't have to buy the product for whatever reason I damn choose and in this case I think the singers should sing and leave the pontificating to the pundits, politicians and citizens.
I don't begrudge the celebrity elite their fame. If they've talent and they've scrunged and struggled their way to the top then God Bless America and good on you.
But the Dixie Chicks overstepped their bounds and yet they refuse, just REFUSE, to leave us law-abiding citizens who buy the goods, carry this country and pay the taxes, ALONE!
NBC isn't running this ad because they hear a death knell in the distance. The public isn't buying this crap and that same public ain't buying Katie Couric and all the crap they try to shove down our throats.
Damn I feel so powerful and here I am just a humble citizen. Today I posted another wise observation on the Katie Couric thread and darn if I didn't mention the Dixie Chicks in THAT post...way before this flap started.
They really need to start paying attention to us as we've got the medium to communicate en masse now.
Above rant courtesy of Pat Fish.
What??????? Is it possible they have seen the light?
I was wondering about that. My read of McCain-Feingold is that it restricts "issue ads" that name a federal candidate -- Bush isn't a candidate for any office, and I didn't see any other politicians I could identify in the ad. But the ad spending, even without targeting a specific race, could still classify as an in-kind donation to the Democrats, I guess. I noticed that the ad didn't have the disclaimer about who paid for it at the end.
All you'd have to do is release a movie or a book, and launch an ad blitz for it, thus sneaking an issue ad in the back door -- not a bad ploy, and if it worked this time, you could count on it being tried again.
Ann Coulter's (a small mention, so just a small pic, but rules are rules) publisher, for example, could decide that her book needed a promotional boost in early November for some reason -- and so could Al Franken's. Give 29 seconds of quotes from the book with pictures of the people targeted, and then plug the book at the end.
From there it's a small step to throwing together a cheap book or movie with no intention of ever making any money off of it, but just using it as a conduit for advertising. And from there it's a small step to a 527 setting up its own ostensibly for-profit publishing house to crank out books as an excuse to advertise them.
bttt
They're taking this small, un-altering stand so that they can say, "See, we're balanced."
Nope, the FEC.
Oh, my....
You are so witty. Indeed they have though, although I imagine that NBC is also tired of hearing the screeches of the Dixie Chicks.
"Weinstein continues to direct the company's endeavors, producing box-office successes like "Pulp Fiction," "Shakespeare in Love," and "The English Patient.""
I heard that Gwyneth Paltrow 'baked cookies' for Weinstein to get the lead part in "Shakespeare In Love."
Does this mean they will no longer be airing the Today Show, NBC Nightly News and half of their programming then?
What's the real reason, because they certainly have never given a damn about just representation toward this President let alone critisism.
BTW, the question is rhetorical on my part.
IF there are no other anvils waiting to be dropped about this I'd wager they've been in communication with Halperin.
And, it's not going to work. No conservative is going to believe a few carefully chosen denouncements and suddenly the MSM is into "fairness". because 98% of the rest they don't raise to attention say otherwise.
If I had to guess I'd state this goes beyond '06, but into '08. They want to defuse distrust of conservatives and other Americans towards them, and defuse a base mobilzer in '08.
Tell them what. When they log ten years of consistent just treatment to either side and to themselves as well, then I might lower the suspicion a degree.
Hypothesis:The agitprop masters at National Socialist Broadcasting recognize that pop-culture conspiracy theories appeal only to a limited audience and would tend to alienate more mainstream voters in the coming election.
Short version: Not many potheads vote and running the Chick commercials would annoy everyone else and backfire on the Donks.
So, they won't get to run a partisan anti-republican ad in the form of movie trailer during the election. Good. Scratch one more October surprise.
One week before an election, and not being submitted as a campaign ad? The networks are dong absolutely the correct thing. For a change.
Outstanding!! That should become the official Free Republic moniker. No more Dixie slander. Hence forth they are the
Note to Natalie and her enablers: You weren't blacklisted. You were merely unpopular.
What's more, you did it to yourselves. That isn't the wisest move for a musical performer, but what makes it all the more baffling is that you continue to do it.
Nobody's mind will be changed by your tantrums. Your best career move at this point is to shut up and sing.
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