Sponsor Pulls Ad from CBS News After Homeschoolers' Complaints

CNSNews ^ | 10/21/03 | Marc Morano

[capt. norm]

Now CBS is going after Reagan with their made-for-TV movie starring Babs' husband.

I think we have our work cut out for us.

CBS is sticking it in our face!

[Pete]

Now CBS is going after Reagan with their made-for-TV movie starring Babs' husband.

I just saw that on Drudge and came over here to mention it as well. Boy, reading that story got my ire up. I would be willing to participate in a preemptive boycott - that is, get the word out to all potential sponsers that they will be boycotted if they run commercials during this movie. I don't think we can wait until after the fact. We have the right to choose where we spend our money and I will not be spending it on any product or service that associates itself with the smear of a great man.

[kidd]

Claritin bump! (I took mine this morning!)

[Gritty]

The series concluded by noting that no states require "criminal background checks" of the parents who homeschool their children.

Neither do states require "criminal background checks" of the parents who have children.

I don't see what CBS's point was, except to smear the homeschool movement!

[eyespysomething]

Why doesn't CBS just come out and say they are a liberal network, and anything they show may be left-leaning. At least it would be honest....oh yeah, nevermind.

[Pete]

I really think we need to be proactive. CBS is the absolute worst - they rival CNN. I sometimes hear the CBS headlines on the radio on the way to work and they consistently start their news update with bad news about the war. We had the outrageous homeschooling story and now this movie on Reagan. Not to mention Rather every night.

I checked and www.boycottcbs.org is available. We could have it up in running in 24 hours for about 15 bucks and 5 bucks a month on verve hosting. I would be willing to spring for the cost of the site and participate on a development and maintenance team. I wonder if any webmaster Freepers would want to manage it or other freepers would want to participate in the development? I know how to code but I don't think it is something I could adequately maintain on my own. Putting a team of freepers on it (of which I would happily be one) would be the most efficient and effective way to set it up.

I envision the site would:

• 1) Document the outrageous bias, evidences of their left wing agenda.
• 2) Provide context and correct to errors and outright lies in their stories.
• 3) Provide sponser information to facilitate boycotts and contact.
• 4) Discussion boards, reader reports, chat etc

  I know there are other sites out there that chronicle Rather's bias but this site would be specifically event driven with the mission of correcting errors, exposing lies and bringing financial pressure to CBS as a way to hold them accoutable to the truth.

  Thoughts? Like I said, if we get a group together, we could be live in 24 hours.

[GrandMoM]

....many of us still support this commie station by watching Survivor,(I stop watching BLATHER years ago). Suvivor is one of CBS's most popular show.

I for one will no longer be watching it, and I plan to email the sponsors and tell them why. Hittem where it hurts!!!!!!!!

[Let's Roll]

Now we know why Babs was smirking when Oprah asked her about her husband playing RR in this movie.

Smirk away, BS, but you're still ugly.

[petitfour]

Yes, I'll go for that boycott, too. I wanna know who plans on airing ads during the Smear Reagan show. Those products will not be coming into this household. I can spread the word to a few households in my neighborhood.

[listenhillary]

Hit your local auto dealers HARD.

They spend the big bucks on advertising.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Even though it might have advertised on a network which might have produced a "news" story displeasing to some?

Do these people think that an advertiser which buys time months in advance KNOWS what stories are going to be run before/after an ad? LoL.

[gramho12]

Great idea. I think most of us want to express our displeasure with the truth-impaired media, but single e-mails and calls only scratch the surface.

I am not a webmaster, and I am retired, but I would be willing to support it with a few bucks.

Whatever it takes to fight these special interest groups who are paid activists, not vounteers.

[Pete]

Do you all think it would be worthwhile to start a thread on developing a www.boycottcbs.org website? The post would look like this. Let me know what you think.

----------------------------

As many of you know, CBS recently ran a two part series on homeschooling that was outrageously bias and misleading. Today, it has been reported that they are planning a TV movie that will smear Ronald Reagan. We have put up with Rather for so long but enough is enough. CBS needs to be held accountable to the truth. We need to do something.

Free Republic is about grass-roots conservatism. Therefore, I propose we create a website at www.boycottcbs.org. The domain is available. I am willing to put up the money for domain registration and web hosting. (This runs $15 bucks and $5 buck a month, respectively.) What I am looking for in this thread is to flush out this idea and recruit volunteers to participate in the development and maintenance of the site. I simply cannot do it alone. We need people who are able to commit the necessary time to this project. At minimum, we would need:

1. Webmaster - oversight responsibility of development and content
2. Programmer - Assist the webmaster in site development
3. Content manager - Develop and coordinate website content
4. Promotion dirctor - responsible for getting the word out and generating traffic
5. PR manager - Handle external communication
6. Technical manager - responsible for technical coding - e.g. scripts, php, etc.
7. Discussion board manager - responsible for maintenance of discussion boards (a discussion board comes with a verve hosting account so this would be maintenance rather than development)
8. Content volunteers - responsible for monitoring and reporting sponsers and stories on CBS

. That is a start. Other needs can be discussed once we develop of core team. I envision the site would at a minimum:

1) Document bias in news stories and programs.
2) Identify and counter their left wing agenda.
3) Provide context and correct errors and expose outright lies in their stories and television programs.
4) Provide sponser information to facilitate boycotts and contact.
5) Provide opportunities for public discussion and interaction via discussion boards, reader reports, chat etc.

If you are interested, reply on this thread and also contact me through freep mail. All comments concerning this proposal are welcome.

[UB355]

There already is a site like you envision. It's

http://ratherbiased.com/

have fun

[Pete]

There already is a site like you envision. It's http://ratherbiased.com/

I am aware of that site. However, ratherbiased.com is focused pretty much exclusively on Dan Rather. The site I propose would apply to all CBS programming. Also, the ratherbiased.com site does not include boycott information. Facilitating boycotts of CBS sponsors would be a core mission of the proposed site.

[MissAmericanPie]

We use to have such successful boycots, we need to get back to that.

[OldSmaj]

...many of us still support this commie station by watching Survivor...

Actually, the support comes from the perceived viewership as it is applied to the number of persons watching the show, that will watch the commercial presentations, and subsequently purchase the products, which in turn results in the network being paid for the time based upon the potential exposure. That's why Super Bowl commercial spots cost so much.

Kinda convoluted, yes, but I fight it in my own little way.

I "PVR" (Tivo) the shows on CBS that I like. Actually, there are only two of them, both on the same night: Survivor and CSI Vegas.

I then watch them at my leisure and zap the commercials.

I get to enjoy the shows without the commercial crap, takes less time and I am able to do it at my pace and time.

To tell the truth, I have absolutely no idea who or what sponsors those two shows. Nor do I care.

Commercial television hates the PVR's and Tivos, for that very reason.

And I am sure, that as a upper-middle-class, middle-aged white male with a disposable income, that I am right in the middle of the demographic spectrum that many of the commercials are trying to reach.

You would think that the final end result would be that commercial television would suffer as a result of sponsors realizing that this is done and pulling or reducing the time they purchase, therefore causing the networks to be unable to produce the shows.

It appears the opposite has occurred, though.

I'm sure there are statistics somewhere out there that supports that.

Not that anyone cares, except a tv-time salesman.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A great idea. Boycott any product associated with this CBS fraud.

[tang-soo]

CBS is sticking it in our face!

I'm done with them. My wife and I watched and episode of "Cold Case" Sunday evening. It was about a very pious and outwardly "christian" family eaten up with adultry and eventually a viscous murder as well as a cover-up for 13 years. I can't in my wildest dreams seeing them displaying this exact same story but with a different ethnicity and/or religion. They even displayed a cross hanging on the wall in the background during the recreation of the murder.

By the way, this new show is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer - the creator of other CBS products CSI and "Without a Trace".