Five years ago, the United Church of Christ produced an ad with a simple message: Jesus doesn’t reject anyone. But when they tried to put it on the air, they were rejected by CBS and NBC. CBS in particular said the following, according to The Boston Globe:
In the letter from the CBS official to the United Church of Christ, the network said it refuses advertising that “touches on and/or takes a position on one side of a current controversial issue of public importance.”
Now, the news comes out that CBS will be airing an ad from Focus on the Family featuring Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother with an anti-abortion message – during the Super Bowl, the most prominent television advertising event of the year. Certainly, Focus on the Family will be “touch[ing] on and/or tak[ing] a position on one side of a current controversial issue of public importance,” no?
Why reject the UCC’s ad, and accept Focus on the Family’s?
The rational reader is left to conclude one of two things: either (a) CBS doesn’t consider an anti-abortion ad from a right-wing political/religious group to be sufficiently controversial, or (b) they’ve changed their policy on controversial ads.
We need to demand accountability from CBS: Either reject Focus on the Family’s ad under their “controversial ad” policy, or give the United Church of Christ an equal opportunity to air their ad during the Super Bowl. This hypocrisy – where an ad taking a right-wing position on perhaps the most controversial issue of our time is accepted, while an ad hinting at a liberal position on an issue of less controversy is rejected – shouldn’t be allowed to stand.
This isn’t about abortion – people on both sides of that issue should be equally incensed that one side’s messages are allowed to get through, while other viewpoints aren’t. This is about basic fairness, about giving the citizens of a democracy the chance to hear all viewpoints rather than just one group’s opinion. Regardless of our disagreements on abortion – and I know we have quite a few – this is something we should all be able to get behind.
If we allow this hypocrisy to stand, in which any moderate or progressive message is deemed “too controversial for TV” while a conservative message is judged to be acceptable, we cede yet more ground to the right-wingers. We can’t let them dominate the broadcast airwaves without having a chance to respond in kind; it’s a matter of basic fairness, of giving the American people the chance to see all sides of the issue rather than just the conservative viewpoint.
I emailed WUSA 9 – my local CBS affiliate – and received a response from their Vice President for Community Relations, who forwarded me this response from CBS:
“Our standards and practices process continues to adhere to a policy that ensures all ads — on all sides of an issue — are appropriate for air.”
That isn’t what they said five years ago. Five years ago, they said that no ad taking a side on an issue was appropriate for their airwaves. Has their policy changed?
Thus, we need to call on CBS to either reject Focus on the Family’s ad, or publicly offer the United Church of Christ the opportunity to air their ad during the Super Bowl as well and make it clear that all viewpoints have an equal opportunity to make their voices heard on CBS’s airwaves.
We need to take action – and here’s how to do it:
- Contact CBS: Use the feedback forms for CBS Sports and CBS TV, send an email to CBS audience services (audsvcs@cbs.com) and call CBS Sports at (954) 351-2120 demanding that they reject FOTF’s ad or accept the UCC’s.
- Contact your local affiliate with the same message. Local affiliates will be able to pass messages up the chain in a way we as normal citizens can’t. Click here to find your local affiliate and use their contact options to send them a message.
- Sign the petition. One of our Facebook friends, Michael Jones, set up a petition on change.org calling on CBS to make its views consistent. Please sign it and share it on Facebook and Twitter.
- Spread the word about this movement. We’ve got a Facebook group set up for this movement – please join and urge your friends and family to join as well. If this movement goes viral, we can turn a lot of heads.
Together, we can make a difference. Please join us in calling CBS to air all viewpoints or none.
Jim, What was the UCC ad about?
Here’s the ad in question:
The Facebook group may turn heads…180 degrees from this statement.
The Matthew 25 Network stands for a new kind of Christian engagement with our fellow believers. The Matthew 25 Network rejects the old politics of division, ad-hominem attacks, and religious condemnations of others. While disagreements are inevitable, we will always seek respectful and constructive dialogue with our fellow believers, believing that the high ground is the most likely place to find common ground.
Why?
Yes, some people on that page aren’t part of the Matthew 25 Network. The facebook action isn’t “officially” through the Matthew 25 Network, it’s something being done independently – and hence is attracting activists from a wide variety of backgrounds. If we all agree on the basic premise – that CBS needs to demonstrate some basic fairness in their standards for which political views they deem “too controversial for TV” – then why not work with everyone who will come on board?
Or are you suggesting that the very act of confronting CBS on this issue of basic fairness is itself incompatible with that mission statement? If so, how so? Please lay out your argument.
While the UCC certainly has the right to question the practice (or consistency) of a network for accepting or rejecting an ad, the broadcast company in question should not be required (in a free society) to accept any ad they choose not to run. That strikes me as a minimal gaurantee of free speech.
First, the broadcast company isn’t just a private entity – they’re using the public airwaves, airwaves that belong to all of us that are licensed out to private entities to use for the public good. That means that government can hold them to basic standards – hence the FCC’s ability to censor certain kinds of material during certain hours of the day when children are watching. If necessary, I wouldn’t be opposed to Congress passing a law saying that those who are given trust of the public airwaves need to be consistent in the views they allow the public to see – either allow all voices or allow none.
Second, even if you accept that they aren’t required to accept the ad by force of law, we as citizens and as consumers have every right to put pressure on CBS to be consistent in their policies through the power we have – the power to buy things, the power to give our attention to one thing or another, the power to speak to our friends and family. At the moment, if you’ll notice, that’s what the facebook group is doing… it isn’t saying that CBS should be required by law to accept the UCC’s ad, but that we as citizens should be holding the corporations we allow to continue to exist accountable for their actions and demand consistency in policy. In a democratic society, the people deserve to hear all sides of an issue–not just one side.
Mr. Gilmore,
Best wishes with your efforts to ask CBS to accept UCC’s ad and/or reject FOTF’s ad. Having said that, though, I applaud that FOTF will hopefully get to air their ad. It likely will have a message that we need to keep hearing; that abortion was & is a scourge on our nation, and others that permit it as well.
Best regards.
Jim,
how can that ad be too controversial? all it says it that Jesus never turned anyone away who came to him and the UCC is trying to follow that example. that is one of the basic truths of new testament scripture. if we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus, God in human form on earth, and we see that God is good and wants all to come to him. do you have a copy of the focus on the family ad?