CBS and "advocacy"

Remember the Super Bowl? No, not Janet Jackson's costume malfunction. At the time, CBS rejected running a spot by MoveOn.org that cleverly questioned Bush's spending priorities. At the time, CBS said it did not run controversial advocacy ads.

That decision was questioned at the time, as observers and Congressmen wondered why CBS accepted ads from the White House Drug Control Policy, many of which are extremely controversial.

Well, now we understand. CBS only rejects liberal controversy. The right wingnut variety? A screed against Bill Clinton to air during his "60 Minutes" interview? Well, that's ok.

The spot, which, among other things, apparently assigns sole blame for the attacks of Sept. 11 on Bill Clinton, was created by David Bossie and Citizens United, a group dedicated to enacting "key elements of President Bush's conservative legislative and policy agenda..." (Here's some "fun facts" about Bossie).

I said "apparently" because the spot did not run in the New York area. The CBS affiliate here rejected the ad. It is curious that the New York affiliate rejected an ad that the New York based CBS headquarters accepted. The ad did run in a number of markets in swing states.