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Received in email:

As you know, CBS refused to run MoveOn Voter Fund's "Child's Pay" ad -- perhaps the most tasteful and uncontroversial advocacy ad in history -- during the Super Bowl. CBS executives claimed they had a blanket policy against all so-called "issue" ads.

Yesterday, we learned that the network plans to broadcast an ad promoting the Bush Medicare prescription drug law. This is part of a $13 million taxpayer-financed TV campaign to take the heat off the White House for pushing through a drug plan that benefits drug companies and insurance companies more than Medicare recipients.

The White House ad features the tagline "Same Medicare. More Benefits." But a report by Consumers Union last month said that most people covered by Medicare will wind up spending more for prescription drugs, as a result of the provisions in the law which favor drug companies. According to the Washington Post, the campaign is intended "to counteract Democratic criticism that changes to the (Medicare) program will harm older Americans."

If that isn't a controversial issue ad, we don't know what is. But since CBS appears to be changing its policy, our Voter Fund has submitted our own Medicare ad which exposes the facts behind this spin campaign to run on CBS. So far, we haven't heard back. Please give CBS a call today to let them know that they need to either pull the White House ads or run ours.

You can reach CBS at:

Phone:
Les Moonves, President of CBS
(323) 575-2345

Email:
newmediasales@cbs.com

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

...

We're spreading out the calls across a number of relevant CBS numbers, so hopefully you won't get a busy signal. Also, we have no quarrel with CBS News or any CBS journalists, who have actually given fair coverage to CBS Corporate's unfair decision. Please don't call the CBS news desk.

There's another issue involved here that needs to be taken very seriously: if Bush's Medicare ad is intended to function as a campaign ad (and that clearly appears to be the case) then this may constitute a criminal election law violation. In fact, the ad company which made the ad which will air on CBS also works for the Bush/Cheney re-election committee. We've put in a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Health and Human Services to begin the process of establishing the facts in this case.

For now, help us hold CBS accountable by asking them to stop running the Bush Medicare ad -- or to accept ours.

Sincerely,
--Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Laura, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn.org Team
February 5th, 2004

So, first: MoveOn.org is a Democratic leaning political action group founded during Lewinskygate (its original, central idea: a petition to Congress to "censure and move on"; thus, the name.) No doubt you've seen at least one of MoveOn's ads regarding the State of the Union address or the Medicare changes (the Bush Pulls the Rug Out ad.)

Certainly MoveOn can be somewhat... shrill when it comes to their anti-Bush rhetoric (witness the Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest, an interesting if slanted concept.) That said, however, you can't deny that in this case, they would seem to have a point. I didn't necessarily agree with CBS's choice not to air the Bi30S ad during the Super Bowl, but it's their network, their call. But to run the Bush administration's ad, which probably should have been excluded on the same basis... well, now we're into trickier territory.

In any event, some interesting reading and thinking here. Is CBS's denial of the ad a violation of freedom of expression, or just a corporate entity exercising its own sound business judgment? Does this violate federal election laws, as MoveOn apparently believes? Is it a big surprise that CBS skews conservatively? Should we care?

Just some things to think about on a wintery Saturday night.

posted by Gus at 4:45 PM | |