Wednesday, October 20, 2004
General Mills: Guardians of Free Speech
Scats received a deeply moving reply to his Sinclair-boycott letter from General Mills, one of the advertisers. Here's an excerpt:
They "choose to stand with freedom of the press," huh? Well, corporations just do what they do, I guess. So do blogs. So I say: go to fucking hell General Mills, you satanic pigs. What do you make, cereal? Never again will I eat your fucking cereal. (Not that I would have, anyway; the indie hippie-brand cereals are quite prevalent here in NYC, and many are actually cheaper than the corporate brands, not to mention better tasting. Health Valley and all that crap. Good stuff.)
Note: While it is wonderful that the blogosphere has done such a good job of keeping this story in the public eye, the latest Sinclair news is clearly a bunch of horseshit coming out of a company hellbent on airing their propaganda, despite the fact that they're practically shitting themselves, watching their stock plummet and their value downgraded.
Keep the pressure on. Write to or call the advertisers politely and respectfully threatening boycott. Again, if you don't have time to write a letter, use mine.
Also: Former FCC chair Reed Hunt has been providing very interesting and informative letters to Josh Marshall, interpreting the ongoing Sinclair saga.
posted by Blicero : 10/20/2004 02:38:00 AM
As viewers, each of us is free to make a choice. We can choose to patronize or not patronize programs with our viewership. We can choose to patronize or not patronize particular television stations, or even entire networks.
Similarly, advertisers may choose not to sponsor certain broadcasts, a particular network or specific publications because of their journalistic standards and judgment. But advertisers should not attempt to control or pre-empt news programming prior to broadcast or publication. That, in our view, would be inappropriate.
In this instance, as in the example cited earlier, passionate voices are calling on advertisers to insert themselves into the election by threatening to boycott those who remove or who do not remove their advertising.
We choose to stand with freedom of the press.
We welcome the views that you and others have shared with us. You may rest assured that we will remind the networks we sponsor that the integrity of their reporting reflects on the companies that advertise during their broadcasts.
Hopefully, you will understand our views – and the importance we place on a free press.
Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us and share your views.
Sincerely,
General Mills
They "choose to stand with freedom of the press," huh? Well, corporations just do what they do, I guess. So do blogs. So I say: go to fucking hell General Mills, you satanic pigs. What do you make, cereal? Never again will I eat your fucking cereal. (Not that I would have, anyway; the indie hippie-brand cereals are quite prevalent here in NYC, and many are actually cheaper than the corporate brands, not to mention better tasting. Health Valley and all that crap. Good stuff.)
Note: While it is wonderful that the blogosphere has done such a good job of keeping this story in the public eye, the latest Sinclair news is clearly a bunch of horseshit coming out of a company hellbent on airing their propaganda, despite the fact that they're practically shitting themselves, watching their stock plummet and their value downgraded.
Keep the pressure on. Write to or call the advertisers politely and respectfully threatening boycott. Again, if you don't have time to write a letter, use mine.
Also: Former FCC chair Reed Hunt has been providing very interesting and informative letters to Josh Marshall, interpreting the ongoing Sinclair saga.
posted by Blicero : 10/20/2004 02:38:00 AM
