Friday, October 27, 2006

Media Ouotlets Avoid Dixie Chicks?

Yesterday, I linked to an article saying NPR and others had refused to even carry an ad for the new movie "Death Of A President." Turning down movie ads for anything but porn is all but unheard of -- and as the reviews show, this not very good movie isn't some frightening diatribe but simply a banal look at law enforcement in a post-9-11 world of paranoia and fewer restrictions on the cops. This movie is too mild to be a hot potato.

Now the Weinstein Co. is claiming that NBC and CW are refusing to carry ads for the new Dixie Chicks documentary "Shut Up & Sing" because it features Bush in an unflattering light. (At one point in the movie, singer Natalie Maines turns to the camera addressing Bush and says, "You are a dumb f---.") The CW says the Weinstein Co. is wrong and NBC refuses comment. Again, refusing to run an ad for a documentary film is a very slippery slope. Does that mean the networks approve and endorse all the movies they DO run ads for? I don't think so. As long as the ad itself is appropriate for the timeslot, turning down money seems pretty unAmerican to me.

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