Posted on 10/16/2015 11:01:52 AM PDT by abb
CBS has refused to run advertising for Truth, the film starring Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford that revisits a painful episode in the network's past involving a discredited 2004 news story on former President George W. Bush's military service record.
CBS has denounced the movie, which opens Friday, as a disservice to the public and journalists.
Redford plays Dan Rather in Truth, with Blanchett as producer Mary Mapes. Together, they were behind a 60 Minutes II story that questioned Bush's Vietnam War-era commitment to service in the Texas Air National Guard. But CBS apologized for the story after documents used were called into question and could not be verified. Mapes and three news executives were fired.
Sony Pictures Classics sought a multi-million dollar ad buy to promote the film on Stephen Colbert's Late Show, the CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning and 60 Minutes, but was turned down, said Sherri Callan, president of Callan Advertising, the company that places ads for Sony.
Instead, Sony is advertising on ABC, NBC, Fox and several cable networks. CBS, which confirmed the rejection, told Callan it was not comfortable accepting the ads because of inaccuracies and distortions in the movie, and that it would offend longtime CBS News employees.
"It's astounding how little truth there is in Truth," said Gil Schwartz, longtime chief spokesman for CBS Corp. and a character in the movie. "There are, in fact, too many distortions, evasions and baseless conspiracy theories to enumerate them all. The film tries to turn gross errors of journalism and judgment into acts of heroism and martyrdom.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
Might hurt Jeb.
I’m shocked!
Dan Rather is crazier than an outhouse rat.
the movie must be really really bad if CBS refuses to advertise for it- They promote anything- true or not- so it’s surprising they are backing away from this m ovie-
Wow... I’m astonished and pleased that CBS took this route. Good for them.
Just what the world wants to see - a movie about a long-gone TV news reader, who faked some documents about a politician, starring a washed-up lefty actor.
Will it break $1 million in revenue?
Makes CBS look bad....well DUH!
“I’m shocked!”
Yeah really.... there must be another rwason for turning down the cash besides the feigned righteous indignation angle.
Kenneth, what is the frequency?
My prediction...
Box office bomb of the year
Gunga’s a glutton for punishment.
Whatever happened to the lawsuit Rather filed against CBS after getting canned?
The only reason this movie got produced is as a tax write off. I imagine Rather and Mapes accounting for 75% of the box office out of their own pockets.
It’s hilarious that Robert Redford bookends his career with the lies about Richard Nixon on one end and the lies by Dan Rather on the other.
I wish my dad had lived to see this. It’s so unbelievably great.
Wow, that might hurt ticket sales. Could go from 10 tickets all the way down to 5.
The DVD will be in the $2 bin at Wal Mart by Christmas. Nobody is gonna watch it.
Is REM doing the soundtrack?
Do you suppose that that was the original impetus for making the movie? Perhaps, the producers were banking on JEB being a frontrunner in the GOP race & this movie was intended to hurt him (and, by extension, the whole GOP brand). Ha! Funny how that worked out for them.
It is refreshing to see giants of the MSM battling each other. That’s a hint of what actual competition would look like.
Bulkhead.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.