TV station refuses to air anti-war ad days before Bush visit
AP
August 22nd, 2005
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah television station is refusing to air an
anti-war ad featuring Cindy Sheehan, whose son's death in Iraq prompted a
vigil outside President Bush's Texas ranch.
The ad began airing on other area stations Saturday, two days before Bush
was scheduled to speak in Salt Lake City to the national convention of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars.
However, a national sales representative for KTVX, a local ABC affiliate,
rejected the ad in an e-mail to media buyers, writing that it was an
"inappropriate commercial advertisement for Salt Lake City."
In the ad, Sheehan pleads with Bush for a meeting and accuses him of lying
to the American people about Iraq's development of weapons of mass
destruction and its connection to al-Qaeda.
"I love my country. But how many more of our loved ones need to die in this
senseless war?" a weary-looking Sheehan asks in the ad. "I know you can't
bring Casey back. But it's time to admit mistakes and bring our troops home
now."
Salt Lake City affiliates of NBC, CBS and Fox began running the ad Saturday.
The ads were bought for Gold Star Families for Peace by Washington,
D.C.-based Fenton Communications, which provided a copy of the e-mail from
station sales representative Jemina Keller.
In a statement Saturday evening explaining its decision, KTVX said that
after viewing the ad, local managers found the content "could very well be
offensive to our community in Utah, which has contributed more than its fair
share of fighting soldiers and suffered significant loss of life in the this
Iraq war."
Station General Manager David D'Antuono said the decision was not influenced
by the station's owner, Clear Channel Communications Inc.
Celeste Zappala, who with Sheehan co-founded Gold Star Families for Peace,
said she was puzzled by the decision.
"What stunned me was that it was inappropriate to hear this message," she
said. "How is it that Salt Lake City should hear no questions about the
war?"
The e-mail read: "The viewpoints reflected in the spot are incompatible with
our marketplace and will not be well received by our viewers." It added that
the spot didn't qualify as an issue advertisement.
For the ad to have been considered an "issue" advertisement a ballot measure
would have had to be at stake, D'Antuono said.
Mark Wiest, vice president of sales for NBC-affiliated KSL television, said
that in the interest of freedom of speech, his station didn't hesitate to
run the ad. KSL is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"The bigger picture is, by suppressing the message are we doing what is
right under the First Amendment and in an open democratic society?" Wiest
said.
Bush received nearly 70% of the vote last fall in Utah, one of the most
conservative states north of the Bible Belt.