Pro-Democrat Hotel Chain Starwood Excludes Fox News

Newsmax.com ^ | July 30, 2003 | the eagle has landed

[TheEaglehasLanded]

Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com Thursday, July 31, 2003 WASHINGTON – A major hotel chain that will not make top-rated Fox News Channel available to guests has a record of individual campaign contributions heavily favoring Democrats. Federal Election Commission records reviewed by NewsMax.com show that among those officials who list Starwood or a Starwood hotel property as their workplace favored Democrats by better than 3 to 1 over Republicans for the 1999-2000 election cycle.

Starwood's hotels include Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis, Luxury Connection, Four Points and, ironically, W.

In the 2001-2002 cycle, a midterm election period, the amount contributed was considerably smaller than during the presidential election time. But the ratio of contributions to Democrats then was more than 5 to 1.

The latest figures for 2003-2004 so far show a preference for Democrats over Republicans running almost 6 to 1.

Most of the above individual contributions were traceable to a candidate or a political party, though a tiny minority involved Democrat-leaning PACs (such as homosexual and feminist causes, vs. one gun-rights group for the Republicans). They do not include industrial PAC money, which is less ideologically driven and handled through different channels with a sharper eye on where the power lies in the company’s or the industry’s interest.

Some of the biggest beneficiaries of Starwood political largesse are Al Gore, Sen. Joe Lieberman, former Sen. Bill Bradley, and the now-disgraced former Sen. Robert Torricelli.

Leading Democrats such as Gore, national chairman Terry McAuliffe, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Sen. Hillary Clinton have condemned Fox News for daring not to copy CNN's leftist slant.

For decades, the left wing was accustomed to one-sided networks that ignored or reviled the conservative side of the public debate. The left is wailing now that FNC has broken the leftist hammerlock on what the public sees and hears.

Thus, a corporation that carries foundering CNN but refuses to air Fox News, even though Fox is more than twice as popular with the public, raises questions. Are the political preferences of its decision-makers affecting how the company treats its hotel guests?

Starwood’s corporate offices rejected repeated requests to comment for this article.

NewsMax readers have complained that they are unable to receive Fox News Channel in hotels they have visited, whereas CNN (known among conservatives by such monikers as Clinton News Network, among other nicknames) is consistently available.

John Malkin, Fox News' vice president of affiliate sales, estimates that FNC is available in “about half” of America’s approximately 4 million hotel rooms “that are capable of carrying programming.” A major part of the problem, he acknowledges, is that CNN had a 20-year head start.

But there are indications of pockets of political prejudice. In Montgomery County, a left-wing bastion in Maryland, the cable system waited five years before making Fox available. Even then there was chagrin, typified by a man who wrote a newspaper saying he was “offended” that viewers would be allowed that choice.

“Starwood has not embraced the [Fox News Channel] like Marriott and Hilton have, and we’re surprised that they haven’t, but we’re continuing dialogue,” Malkin told NewsMax.

A few of the individual hotels have chosen to include Fox, “but the Starwood Corporation has yet to embrace the FNC product,” he said. “Hopefully they will soon.”

Travelers who want to avoid hotels that refuse to carry Fox News should inquire before making reservations.

Note that just because Fox has received the corporate green light from Marriott and Hyatt does not mean you can automatically expect it the next time you visit one of their hotels. Each local hotel manager still must go to the trouble of ordering the hookup. But corporate approval is a big boost.

CNN continues to have an advantage in private homes as well. Malkin said that as of July, Fox was available to about 82.6 million households, compared to 86.4 million for CNN. Still, Fox News has become so popular where it is available that it now has higher ratings that all the other cable news channels combined.

“We’ve had the lead since January 2002 and never looked back,” he said.

[TheEaglehasLanded]

Is this the same bunch bitching about Clear Channel not playing Dixie Chicks songs and hauling their executives to get reemed and plead for mercy in front of the Senate Commerce Committee.

[TheEaglehasLanded]

We should call for Congressional Hearings and haul up mgt of STarwood Hotels for censorship.

[Ford Fairlane]

I'm confused - Westin Hotels is a publicly held company, and is not owned by by any other company

Maybe Starwood is a franchisee, but that is a whole lot different than them owning all Westin hotels

[AgThorn]

another one for the old Boycott list ...

[I still care]

I stayed in Vistana, a Starwood resort and I seem to remember we had Fox. Perhaps things have changed since I stayed.

[Radix]

It is so pretty.

CNN is toast. Fox is way better, but it recently has been put on notice. We are mad as hell, and we ain't going to take it anymore.

Meanwhile, true journalism has fallen by the wayside.

 

 

From the radixionary:

 

Main Entry: jour·nal·ism
Pronunciation: 'j&r-n^&l-"i-z&m
Function: noun
Date: 1833
1 a : the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media b : the public press c : an academic study concerned with the collection and editing of news or the management of a news medium
2 a : writing designed for publication in a newspaper or magazine b : writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation c : writing designed to appeal to current popular taste or public interest

[Obi-Wandreas]

Dang! My wedding reception's gonna be in a Sheraton Four Points!
Oh well. It's not like we'll be spending any time watching tv anyway...

[RJayneJ]

Even so, all Freepers should call the desk as soon as they reach their rooms and can't get Fox-- just to bug them a little and make them aware that their customers care. "Hey, I was just checking the TV and I can't find Fox on the dial. Where is it located?"

[PAR35]

Incorrect. Check again:

http://www.starwood.com/

also:

http://www.starwood.com/corporate/company_info.html

"The following Company Overview is excerpted from the Company's 2002 10-K.; A full copy of the 10-K is available via the Investor Relations section of this web site, choosing the "SEC Filings" banner button."

"Starwood is one of the world's largest hotel and leisure companies. Starwood's status as one of the leading hotel and leisure companies resulted from the 1998 acquisition of Westin Hotels; Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and certain of its affiliates ("Westin") (the "Westin Merger") and the acquisition of ITT Corporation (the "ITT Merger"),"

[Ford Fairlane]

Must be more than one Westin hotel company then - Westin Hotels is publicly traded under the symbol YYNIA

Sounds like the company Westin Hotels; Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (the one Starwood owns) is different from Westin Hotels, which is the more common side of the interstate hotel

[ladyinred]

OMG This is McCarthyism at it's worst!!!! We cannot allow this! Where is Senator McCain? We need hearings, we need investigations! This is a vast left wing conspiracy from hell!

[rabidralph]

I stayed at a Starwood Sheraton Vistana Villages, in Orlando, and Fox News Channel was available. This was in May 2002.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

It's difficult to get Fox in a Holiday Inn as well.

[BlueCat]

I just got back from Atlanta where I stayed in a Westin AND watched Fox News. Bad information from NewsMax.

[On the Road to Serfdom]

http://foxnews.hotellocators.com/

[PAR35]

That company appears to have owned a couple of hotels managed by Westin before Westin was bought out by Starwood.

From the 10K I found by plugging in the symbol you gave:

Westin Hotels Limited Partnership (the “Partnership”) and its subsidiary limited partnerships, The Westin St. Francis Limited Partnership (the “St. Francis Partnership”) and The Westin Chicago Limited Partnership (the “Chicago Partnership” or the “Hotel Partnership”), each a Delaware limited partnership (collectively the “Hotel Partnerships”), were formed on April 25, 1986 for the purpose of acquiring two hotels, The Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, California (the “St. Francis”) and the Michigan Avenue (formerly The Westin Hotel, Chicago) in downtown Chicago, Illinois (collectively the “Hotels”).

The St. Francis and the Michigan Avenue have been managed as part of the Westin hotel chain since 1945 and 1964, respectively. As a result of the acquisition of Westin Hotel Company (“Westin”) by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (“Starwood”) in 1998, the management agreements for the St. Francis and the Michigan Avenue were assigned to St. Francis Hotel Corporation (“St. Francis Corp.”) and 909 North Michigan Avenue Corporation (“909 Corp.”), respectively.

Westin Realty Corp. (“Westin Realty”) is the sole general partner of the Partnership (the “General Partner”). 909 Corp. and St. Francis Corp. are the respective general partners of the subsidiary limited partnerships, the Chicago Partnership and the St. Francis Partnership, which directly own and operate (or in the case of the St. Francis Corp., owned and operated) each Hotel. Since January 2, 1998, the General Partner has been a subsidiary of Starwood.

[Ford Fairlane]

Hmm.. Now I'm wondering if there are 3 or more westin companies, that was the symbol my broker gave me when I called him earlier today, but when I owned it a couple of years ago I could swear it was WES... something, paid at least 5% dividend & had at least 50 hotels

now I'm really confused

[GodfearingTexan]

Super 8 in Platte City, MO doesn't have it either...

[SAJ]

Speaking as someone who has traveled the state of Missouri for the past 20+ years on business, Platte City could be nuked and d*mned few would miss it, except the local pols (who, a gracious G-d granting, would not survive the blast). It's difficult to imagine a stranger and less friendly town, and Missouri has NO shortage of these. Possibly Excelsior Springs, possibly Lexington, but Platte City has to top the list.