Hard-Hitting Ads We'll Never See.

First, check out this very funny ad from the U.K. (QuickTime plugin required. Never would have known it was a Greenpeace ad until the final crawl. I'd gladly kick in $20 or so to help put such and ad (edited for US sensibilities) on the air here. But the truth is, no local station would dare take Greenpeace's money on that for fear of alienating their second largest (next to phama) client base, the auto dealerships

Now, check out this new ad from MoveOn.org. Tough, hard hitting stuff, eh? A progressive or neutral person would probably welcome such a gloves-off approach to telling it like it is with regard to the culture of corruption. This is the fourth wave in a series of ads Move On has put on against targeted GOP congrescritters with voting records that correlate closely with their contributors' interests. Chances of seeing this particular ad in the districts of Rep. Deborah Price (R-Oh.),Rep. Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.), Rep. Thelma Drake (R-VA.), and Rep. Chris Chocola (R-Ind.)? Zero.

As reported by In These Times:

The targeted Congress members are crying foul.

In Indiana, Rep. Chocola expressed his anger that the ads have implicated him in voting in the interests of big oil, which contributed $80,000 to his campaigns, and the pharmaceutical industry, which has contributed $48,500. He denounced MoveOn as “a radical group that does not share the views or values of the people of the 2nd district.”

In Connecticut, Rep. Johnson hit back with an ad attacking MoveOn: “A radical group whose ads have been called ‘shameful’ and misleading’ is at it again. … this group compared America’s leaders to Nazis.” That Nazi comment refers to one of 15,000 ads submitted in 2004 to the MoveOn.org Web site as part of a contest. The ad was subsequently taken down by MoveOn.

Rushing to the defense of the GOP incumbents, the Republican National Committee went on the offensive on June 9, apparently supplpricethe Pryce, Dchoicelyd Chocola campaigns with text for a letter that the campaigns could send to stations that ran MoveOn’s ads.

The letter Drake for Congress sent stations read in part:

The newest ad attacks Congresswoman Drake personally for allegedly protecting war profiteers and goes on to implicitly accuse the congresswoman of taking bribes. These ads are reckless, malicious and false, casting Ms. Drake in a false light by accusing him [sic!] of unsubstantiated criminal conduct. We also believe the republication of these allegations by your organization … subjects your organization to the same potential liability for defamation as MoveOn.org.

In Virginia, Cox Communications, citing “business risks,” agreed to stop running the ad attacking Rep. Drake. Thom Prevette, a Cox Communications spokesman and vice president, told Norfolk’s Virginian-Pilot, “In this case, it’s prudent for us to discontinue running those ads for business reasons.” Uh huh? Turns out that in 2004, Prevette contributed $500 to Drake’s campaign, as did another Cox Vice-President, Franklin R. Bowers.

And in Indiana, South Bend’s WSBT-TV, a CBS affiliate, pulled thechoicelyacking Rep. Chocola, while in Connecticut, Hartford’s NBC affiliate WVIT refused to take the ad. No conflicts of interest to report there—yet.

But the GOP had its greatest success cowing the media in Columbus, Ohio.

Two Sinclair-owned stations, the ABC-affiliate WSYX-TV and the Fox affiliate WTTE-TV, pulled the ads. In response, MoveOn’s Pariser issued this statement: “Isn’t it ironic the Swift Boat Veterans can lie on Sinclair-owned affiliates, but the public is shut out from learning information in the pprice record about Rep. Pryce?”

And the GE/NBC-affiliate in Columbus WCMH-TV declined MoveOn’s ad dollars as well. According to a spokesman, the station “in consultation with legal counsel, made the decision not to accept the ad.” During the 2004 election, WCMH-TV did accept ads from the Swift Boat Veterans.

The Time-Warner cable station WSYX-TV in Columbus apriceefused to run the anti-Pryce ads. Turns out, Time Warner Cable’s Columbus Division president Rhonda Fraas has contributed a total of $2,000 to GOP candidates in Ohio since 2003. So much for the liberal media.

Yet the most glaring conflict of interest involves WBNS-TV in Columbus, where General Manager Tom Griesdorn pullpricee ad that attacked Rep. Pryce for protecting the oil industry from price gouging legislation and that linked her to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

So, to my conservative and libertarian leaning friends: What does this say about the "money equals speech" doctrine and continued defense of the status quo of campaign finance and advertising rules? If all the money in the world can't buy you access to TV stations if the message is at odds with the business philosophy or interests of the station owners, where is the level playing field?

I'll defend to the death your right to air whatever you want as long as it is a two-way street, but when stations can play favorites and get away with it then the system is completely broken.