CBS on Wednesday defended its decision not to air an ad attacking President Bush during Sunday's Super Bowl telecast despite objections from some U.S. congressmen who called the move an affront to free speech.
Rep. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, sent a letter co-signed by 26 other congressmen to CBS President Leslie Moonves on Wednesday criticizing the network for refusing to run the commercial from activist group MoveOn.org, that criticizes Bush over the rising U.S. deficit.
The network rejected the MoveOn.org ad based on its policy against "advocacy advertising," which it said was designed to prevent those who could afford to advertise from having undue influence on "controversial issues of public importance."
The Viacom Inc.-owned CBS network defined the term as having "a significant impact on society or its institutions, and is the subject of vigorous debate with substantial elements of the community in opposition to one another."
Ads for this year's Super Bowl are costing an average of $2.3 million each to air on television's most-watched event.
Sanders wrote that the CBS decision was "an affront to free speech and an obstruction of the public's right to hear a diversity of voices over the public airwaves."
CBS came under criticism in November when it decided not to run a two-part made-for-television movie, "The Reagans," after conservatives complained that it was unflattering to former president Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy.
The network also rejected a Super Bowl ad from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals showing two scantily clad women snuggling up to a meat-eating pizza deliveryman. "Meat can cause impotence," the screen reads after an amorous liaison fails.
"With all that went down with the whole Reagan decision, I guess they decided they don't want the headache," said Robert Thompson, professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University, suggesting CBS wanted to avoid controversy.
"I think they probably just want to stick with the good old-fashioned stuff, like advocating that people drink beer and buy new cars."
