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!

May 10, 2005

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ABC's "Long-Standing," but Changing Policy
Posted by The Rev. Bob Chase, 5/10/2005 10:14:00 AM

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.

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May 5, 2005

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ABC - Enforcing Theological Correctness
Posted by The Rev. Bob Chase, 5/05/2005 01:55:00 PM

"The network doesn't take advertising from religious groups. It's a long-standing policy," said Susan Sewell, an ABC spokeswoman, in a Religion News Service story by Kevin Eckstrom on Wednesday evening.

Really?

Then why did they run the "Focus on the Family" ad during Supernanny which helped a religious institution recruit over almost 10,000 new families?

All one has to do to see that Focus on the Family is a religious institution is to read their own web site.

" Our Mission: To cooperate with the Holy Spirit in disseminating the Gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible, and, specifically, to accomplish that objective by helping to preserve traditional values and the institution of the family. "

ABC should be allowed to run religious ads, but they reject religious ads that embrace tolerance while they embrace ads that reject tolerance. The UCC's ads embracing tolerance were rejected twice by ABC.

This behavior clearly shows that if ABC agrees with your religious views then those views are allowed to be seen, if they do not then they can not be seen.

This is exactly why we need to have the FCC step up to the plate and hold hearings on the networks' arbitrary and capricious definitions of religion and how this sabotages the public interest.

Please click here to send a letter to the FCC to call for immediate hearings on ABC's discriminatory behavior.

Blessings,

Bob
The Rev. Robert Chase
Director of Communication
United Church of Christ

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May 4, 2005

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ABC Rejects Inclusion While Embracing Exclusion
Posted by The Rev. Bob Chase, 5/04/2005 08:58:00 AM

After rejecting the UCC's ads that focus on inclusion, ABC television is allowing James Dobson's Focus on the Family to air two commercials during the network's season finale of "Supernanny" on May 2.

In an Associated Press story (May 2), Focus on the Family's president and CEO, Jim Daly, said the spots were an attempt by his organization to offer "faith-based" advice on parenting, despite the fact that ABC executives have twice denied recent similar requests by the UCC to purchase network time as part of its national advertising campaign.

Focus on the Family is clearly a religious organization, here's yet another illustration of how a particular narrow agenda makes up the rules as they go along, while another religious viewpoint cannot even purchase time on the people's airwaves to proclaim an all-inclusive message.

In December and March, the three major networks denied a purchasing request by the Cleveland-based UCC. NBC and CBS rejected the UCC's 30-second ads as "too controversial." ABC, however, sidestepped the fray by maintaining that it has a blanket policy against all religious advertising.

Why are the network executives so willing to bow to this narrow agenda of the religious right? Why is one religious viewpoint continually accommodated by the network elites?

Focus on the Family may be using a non-sectarian come-on, but what kind of assurances can ABC provide that Focus on the Family's follow-up literature is respectful of all faiths, respectful of non-traditional families, respectful of the one million kids that have same-sex couples as parents?

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Blog Archives:

12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004
01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005
02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005
03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005
05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005
03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006
04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006

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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.