Posted on 08/15/2003 5:52:21 AM PDT by Ex-Dem
WASHINGTON – The Starwood hotel chain says the pro-Democrat tilt of individual company campaign contributors does not reflect corporate policy in deciding which cable news channels it makes available to its guests. Nonetheless, Fox News Channel, recently denounced by leading Democat politicians, has been unable to secure a corporate endorsement from Starwood, even though FNC beats all other cable news channels combined in ratings.
"Starwood has no objections to carrying Fox News programming on our properties," the hotelier’s spokesman Mark Ricci told NewsMax 2½ weeks after our initial request for comment and about a week after we reported that (unlike Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton) Starwood had not given its corporate endorsement of FNC for guests at its Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis, Luxury Connection, Four Points or W properties.
"It is difficult to believe that they have not fully endorsed" FNC, Fox spokesman John Malkin told us. "We are carrying on dialogue with them."
Federal Elections Commission records reviewed by NewsMax show that of the campaign contributors identifying their workplace as Starwood or a Starwood hotel property, the preference for Democrats or Democrat-leaning PACs in the 1999-2000 presidential cycle was 3 to 1 over Republicans. In the midterm 2001-2002 period, the ratio was 5 to 1, and so far in the run-up to next year’s presidential race the trend intensifies at 6 to 1.
In our own inquiry to Starwood, NewsMax stated that although Starwood's decision-makers of course have every right to contribute to any political party or candidate they choose, there is a question as to what extent their political leanings influence Fox’s ability to reach the hotels' guests.
"Starwood Hotels and Resorts has never issued a policy in which we have excluded Fox News or the Fox News Cable Channel and/or its programming at our hotels and resorts," Ricci e-mailed us.
Whether individuals in Starwood's chain of command have taken it upon themselves to omit Fox News Channel in the absence of any (highly unlikely) formal edict from the executive suite is, of course, an unknown. But dozens of NewsMax readers reacted quickly to our first article in this series.
People Vote With Their Dollars and Their Feet
One traveler said he would cancel his Peferred Guest account at the hotel chain, and another said he would "ban them off [his] business and travel spots." One woman whose husband had a Preferred Guest account wrote to Starwood saying she had wondered why FNC had been unavailable at its properties and that "as an American" she was free to choose "hotels that offer the Fox News Channel."
Readers e-mailed us about other hotels where FNC was unavailable. The manager at Hilton in Palm Springs said he would add Fox and that it was his "personal favorite." Holiday Inn in Boston’s Government Center and Hampton Inn in Warwick, R.I., did not respond to inquiries based on e-mails from NewsMax readers.
One e-mail complained about getting no FNC at La Quinta Inns after being told it was offered. The parent company Expedia booted our question back to each individual hotel, a process that would take forever. Lodgenet, the provider for La Quinta, said it did in fact offer Fox News Channel "to any of our customers who wish to receive it." Lodgenet says it is working closely with Fox to mitigate the expenses involved.
The DISH satellite service dd not respond to NewsMax's inquiry as to why CNN was available on its cheaper 50-channel operations but a subscriber must pay more to get Fox on its 100-channel offering.
The regional office of McDonald's said it would pass along a reader’s question about two of its Northern Virginia restaurants always tuned to CNN, never FNC. The McDonald's outlets (in Reston and Herndon) did not reply to the request for comment.
A NewsMax editor experienced a force-feeding of CNN in a waiting area at Reagan National Airport in Washington. It turns out that CNN won that franchise with its 20-year head start, which Fox says is "not in dialogue right now." However, FNC is looking at a similar concept in getting its channel piped in to Hudson newsstands at airports.
In a corporate sense, the biggest question remains Starwood. Its spokesman says the chain has made a substantial commitment to advertising with FNC, and "does not endorse any one station over the other." He defines Fox as "a reputable news medium." But FNC’s spokesman says unlike other hotel chains, Starwood has not endorsed Fox News Channel.
Several NewsMax readers vowed never to patronize any hotel that does not carry FNC. That is something Starwood might want to contemplate during its "regular review" of its "free to guest programming schedules."
Seriously, not even through satellite providers?
I CAN'T believe that people in SF are okay with this. Don't they have an inkling that just MAYBE they're being duped, or lied to? Don't they even care?
This is very true. There is not a day that goes by here with someone telling me how much they hate George W. Bush.
They are convinced that the majority of Americans hate George W. Bush as well due to what they see on television and what they read in their own local papers.
What I can't stand is Americans who travel overseas and then try to score points with the locals by telling everyone they meet overseas how stupid George W. Bush is and how all of America hates him as well.
Just think for a moment and imagine how it looks to have US government officials come over here and then proceed to deride their own President.
Now THAT's BS! LOL. Gimme a shout when you want something and I'll send you a CARE package.
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