Accessible Airwaves

Once again, the United Church of Christ's inclusion-themed, 30-second TV commercial has been rejected by the broadcast networks and now cable network, Viacom.

The United Church of Christ's all-inclusive message has been deemed "too controversial."

It’s time for equal access.

1. Let Your Voice Be Heard - Send a Message to Viacom Viacom accepts ads laced with sexual innuendo, greed, violence, and the politics of personal destruction, while our message of openness and welcome is not allowed. Tell Viacom to make the airwaves accessible. 2. Tell Your Friends Broadcasters who use the public airwaves have a responsibility to operate in the public interest. Spread the word about our campaign!

ABC's "Long-Standing," but Changing Policy

When ABC ran the ad for "Focus on the Family" last Monday (5/2) after they denied the running of our ad last year they claimed that the reason was that "the network doesn't take advertising from religious groups. It's a long-standing policy." They implied from that statement that Focus on Family is not a religious group.

The claim that they are not a religious group did not hold and was ripped apart by bloggers such as John Aravois, Fredrick Clarkson and Chuck Currie.

Rather than admit their mistake, they just changed their "long-standing" policy. Saturday's NYT reported that ABC accepts advertising from religious groups "as long as the commercials do not proselytize."

This is not the first time ABC has changed this policy to prevent our message of inclusiveness from airing. Last February, ABC's rejection of our ad said:

"inconsistent with ABC's policy which precludes approval of commercials with references to religious doctrine and/or religious themes in commercial advertising."

Well, which is it? Which one of these different standards is ABC’s official policy? Furthermore, which one of these standards disqualifies the UCC ad and which one gives Focus on the Family the green light?

• Focus on the Family is a religious group.

• Focus on the Family's commercial includes "references to religious doctrine and/or religious themes," such as the reference to a “faith based perspective that can make all the difference”.

• Focus on the Family's commercial did proselytize – the ad asks people to visit http://focusonyourchild.com/ which then asks people to register for content that includes "Helping Teens Develop a Christian Worldview."

Don’t just take our word for it – decide for yourself whether ABC is guilty of a double standard.

Watch the UCC’s Extravagant Welcome here.

Next watch Focus on the Family’s "Focus on Your Child" spot which aired on ABC’s Supernanny season finale.

Even if ABC believes that the UCC proselytized and Focus on the Family did not, their lack of a single standard is cause for question.

If ABC acted uniformly against all religious messages that would be one thing, but hand picking and then changing their policy to cover their decisions is a clear violation of their "public interest obligation." ABC broadcasts over the public airwaves and the FCC regulates these airwaves to assure that stations comply with the "public interest."

We believe ABC stations are not living up to their responsibility to the public by airing only messages from religious groups they agree with. If you agree, tell the FCC to investigate ABC’s discriminatory policies.

Posted by The Rev. Bob Chase
5/10/2005 10:14:00 AM
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About OC Inc.

The Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc. is the media advocacy arm of the United Church of Christ, a mainline Protestant denomination of over 1.3 million members. The United Church of Christ was the first voice to demand that broadcasters who use the public airwaves have a responsibility to operate in the public interest. In the 1960s, the United Church of Christ earned its place in U.S. broadcasting history by successfully challenging the license of WLBT-TV in Jackson, Miss, for refusing to broadcast news and information about African Americans.