Missing Link

The first Ammendment. It guarantees our freedom of speech. I’m all for it, as any government who limits the speech of it’s citizens, is tyrannical. The people must be free to express their views, beliefs and thoughts, or the government ceases to be of the people and for the people, and becomes of the elite for the elite at the cost of the peoples freedoms.
I read an article earlier today on the Daily Kos (www.dailykos.com) about a blogger, Spocko, who is in a battle of sorts with KSFO in San Francisco (and subsequently, Disney/ABC). Specifically, he has taken issue with some of the content (more likely ALL of it) that takes place on that station. So, how did he choose to fight against it? He wrote an email to their advertisers and asked them if they really want to be associated with that kind of material.

I think the letter itself, though, is perhaps better able to explain what material, and give a good idea of how he went about it:

To: Wendy Clark, VP-advertising, AT&T

Dear Ms. Clark:

Thanks to radio hosts from KSFO your brand is being associated with torturing and killing people. Would your marketing people be happy to hear your commercial ran after Lee Rogers said this about a black man in Lincoln, Nebraska?

“Now you start with the Sear’s Diehard the battery cables connected to his testi*les and you entertain him with that for awhile and then you blow his bleeping head off. ” (Audio link)

You should know the person calling for the execution and torture of the black man in that clip READS THE AT&T commercials on the air. Right now on KSFO Lee Rogers is THE VOICE of AT&T to the SF Bay area. (Audio Link)

Sadly, calling for the death and torture of individuals and groups of people is a regular occurrence on KSFO 560 AM, owned by ABC Radio Disney.

Another example: immediately after the 6 am ABC Radio news on October 27th:

Lee Rogers: I say they catch the person, tie ‘em to a post and burn ‘em. Set ‘em on fire.

Officer Vic: Yeah.

Lee Rogers: Let ‘em know what it feels like.

Melanie Morgan: Hog tie ‘em first. That would be good.

Next, Lee Rogers talks about a protester at a Cindy Sheehan event:

“Whoever did that should have been stomped to death right there. Just stomp their bleeping guts out.” (Audio link).

Within three minutes they called for someone to be burned alive and a protester to be stomped to death. If you dismissed the first clip as a “joke”, note that in this clip they were clearly not joking:

Melanie Morgan famously called for Bill Keller of the New York Times (and nine editors from other papers) to be hanged. (Audio link)

On Nov. 14th Melanie Morgan said this about Nancy Pelosi:

“We’ve got a bulls-eye painted on her big laughing eyes.”

(Audio link)

Also note that Morgan reads the Cingular Wireless commercials on KSFO.

Of course political speech is protected, but I believe the FBI and the FCC frown on targeting elected officials for death or inciting violence toward leaders of any political party.

Because of how ads are purchased, your ad placement agency probably didn’t know that Tom Brenner (the “comic relief” called Officer Vic) regularly mocks advertiser’s products. Listen as he:

• calls Chevrolet’s product “shi**y”

(audio link)

• suggests an anti-virus product is part of a protection racket (audio link)
• pretends a cold pill is really a suppository (audio link)

The odds are your product will be mocked. If they don’t respect a big client like Chevrolet, will they respect your brand?

And it’s not simply calls for killing specific people or mocking products, the radio hosts at KSFO proudly talk about their anti-Muslim views. Based on my research, your business has rules about discrimination against people of other religions, so what message are you sending when your employees or customers hear your advertisements right after Brian Sussman demands of a caller:

“Say Allah is a Wh*re!” (audio link)

Or when Lee Rogers says,

“Indonesia is really just another enemy Muslim nation. … You keep screwing around with stuff like this we are going to kill a bunch of you. Millions of you. ” (audio link)

Maybe you haven’t heard any complaints. Would KSFO management let you know about complaints? Doubtful. Morgan’s husband, Jack Swanson, is KSFO’s operations manager. The president of KSFO, Mickey Luckoff, started the station format and has a history of defending hosts like Michael Savage until he was forced to fire him.

I understand you can’t listen to all the shows you advertise on – no one can. You rely on the accurate representation of the sales reps and the show description. But you don’t need to take my word, listen to the programs. You probably won’t have to listen long to hear something that offends or disgusts you. If you wish to hear the complete context on any clip or the audio during a date your ad ran contact me I have an educational archive of audio clips, I’ve listed a few below.

I want to emphasize that if you withdrawal your ads you aren’t limiting their free speech, just removing your paid support of it. Some other company without the values you describe on the AT&T website can support them. You can choose to advertise elsewhere. This is really about YOU. Do YOU want to be associated with these comments? Do you want your company and brand to be associated with these comments?
I urge you to discontinue advertising on KSFO during the shows hosted by Melanie Morgan, Lee Rogers, Tom Brenner and Brian Sussman.

If you want to contact KSFO here is a link to their website. If you wish to express your displeasure to their parent company contact Zenia Mucha, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, The Walt Disney Company PHONE: (818) 560-5300 CA, (212) 456-7255 NY or email Heather Rim, Vice President, Communications, ABC, Inc. heather.rim@abc.com.
Sincerely,

P.S. I would appreciate hearing your final determination in this matter.

Now, for my own thoughts on the matter. While I generally support the freedom of speech, I think KSFO has greatly overstepped the bounds of acceptable speech and behavior on national airwaves. I don’t take issue with their open and wanton hate of Islam (note: I don’t AGREE with it, but they have the right to believe that, and express that belief), but blatantly calling for the harm of specific individuals is where I feel they have crossed the line. Freedom of speech is one thing, but inciting violence against specific people is entirely different. It’s exactly this kind of hateful broadcasting that promotes biggotry, hate, violence and makes the world a far worse place than it otherwise would be. Sure, everbody should be allowed to express their opinions and views. You can be against someone and their policies without calling for violence against that person. Violence is a tool used by the weakminded because they cannot compete in an intellectual world.

I fully support Spocko and his campaign to alert the advertisers of that station to what they are funding. All he is doing is, as an ethical and aware human being, allowing the advertisers to know that his opinion of their brand is being harmed by the content of the station that they are sponsoring with their advertising. He’s allowing them to see (and hear) what the station’s content is, then allowing them to decide for themselves if they really want their company, their brand, associated with such material. He doesn’t attack the stations right to broadcast that material, he knows full well that they do have the right.
Sadly, Disney/ABC Radio sent a cease and desist order, and Spocko’s ISP shut down his blog over this. They say he was illegally using clips of material from their station. Unfortunately for them, US copyright law specifically permits the type of use Spocko was doing. It’s called “Fair Use”. Unfortunately for Spocko, his ISP was easily intimidated, and he has no funds to keep the fight on. It looks very much to me like the big parent corporations are going after the little guy, instead of inspecting the content of their station and having them clean up their act. Their objection is simply that they don’t want their advertisers to know what they’re paying for with their advertising money.

It’s sad to see this, to be honest. I’m somewhat shocked/surprised that Disney and ABC Radio permit that kind of content on their networks. I guess I shouldn’t be, though. They make money off of it, so they don’t care.