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- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Subject: Advertiser Censorship
- Message-ID: <1992Jul24.231552.910@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Date: 24 Jul 92 23:15:52 GMT
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
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- /** media.issues: 202.0 **/
- ** Topic: Advertiser censorship **
- ** Written 1:48 pm Jul 23, 1992 by studycommerc in cdp:media.issues **
- ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO SELL
-
- Censorship clearinghouse: In March, the Center for the Study of
- Commercialism (CSC) released the report "Dictating Content: How
- Advertising Pressure Can Corrupt A Free Press," which documents
- how the news media tailor editorial content to suit advertisers.
- To keep the spotlight on this disturbing trend, CSC will continue
- to feature new examples of advertiser influence on the media.
-
- ~ Paramount Pictures pulled all advertising from Daily Variety
- after film critic Joseph McBride panned the movie "Patriot Games"
- as a "shallow" adaptation of Tom Clancy's "right-wing cartoon of
- the British-Irish political situation." Peter Bart, Daily
- Variety editor, publicly apologized to Paramount, promising that
- McBride would never review another Paramount movie. Bart also
- hinted that McBride's position as a critic was in question. (NYT
- 6/10/92)
-
- ~ Financial analyst Graef Crystal, who launched the national
- debate on executive salaries while at Fortune magazine, has been
- fired from a similar job at Financial World after advertisers
- complained that their executives were getting bad coverage. (CJR
- 6/92)
-
- ~ Ford and General Motors convinced Saturday Night Live producers
- to take the companies' names out of a skit that cast them in a
- negative light. Titled "Tall Tales From the Recession," the
- original SNL scene depicted Ford and GM chairmen competing to lay
- off the most workers. The final version used fictitious company
- names. (Entertainment Weekly 4/8/92)
-
- ~ Popular computer pundit William Zachman quit his job at PC Week
- after editors demanded he write friendlier columns about
- Microsoft. The software company, one of PC Week's largest
- advertisers, had complained about a series of critical articles.
- The evening after editors tried to pressure Zachman, a Microsoft
- official called to "reeducate" him on their product. (WP 7/7/92)
-
- ~ General Motors sentenced Automobile Magazine to three months
- without advertising after editor David E. Davis delivered a
- scathing speech criticizing the motor company for closing 21
- plants and eliminating 74,000 jobs. (NYT 6/26/92)
-
- ~ The Minneapolis Star-Tribune lost nearly all advertising from
- Northwest Airlines after the newspaper published an
- advertisement, paid for by a grassroots organization, that
- blasted Northwest's campaign to win state financing in exchange
- for building maintenance hubs in Minnesota. Northwest also
- criticized the Star-Tribune for covering the debate in regular
- news stories, even though an editorial supported the airline's
- position. (MST 3/28/92)
-
- KNOW OF NEW EXAMPLES OF ADVERTISER-CENSORSHIP? Call, write, or E-
- mail CSC at 1875 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC
- 20009. (202) 797-7080.
- ** End of text from cdp:media.issues **
-