NBC Just Can't Get It Right

Posted by Kate Butler Oct 30, 2006

According to Weinstein Co., the company that is distributing the Dixie Chick’s new film, NBC and CW, two of the major mainstream American networks, refused to air commercials for this movie. The reason for this refusal? NBC felt that they could not air ads that were disparaging of the President, while CW was not sure that they had programming that would be appropriate for the ad. As one can imagine, this controversy about “Shut Up & Sing,” the Barbara Kopple documentary that looks at what happened after Natalie Maines made a comment about how she was embarrassed that George W. Bush was from Texas, has created a rather major media controversy.

To refuse to play a commercial because of studio execs’ personal feelings about politics is petty and unrealistic, so it is understandable that Weinstein Co. has expressed anger at NBC and CW. However, it is evident that this little event has only fueled major interest in the movie. Newspapers across North America are carrying this story because it iseems to be show more evidence that American news networks really do practice some form of censorship.

According to NBC, they do not show any commercials that touch hot-button issues such as Iraq. This is a ridiculous statement: one only has to look at the political ads that air on this network to see that hot-button issues are consistently mentioned and discussed. As for CW, they say that Weinstein Co. only spoke with a low-level personnel, and they would have no problem playing the ad if the film distributors buy air time. While it is possible that CW truly did not know about what transpired between their low-level executive and Weinstein and Co., it still seems quite unlikely.

It is clear that “Shut Up & Sing” has not lost anything by not being able to air ads on either of these networks; the free publicity from the press over the censorship issue has more than made up for that in one short week. Weinstein Co. also comes out looking like the good guy who is just trying to stand up for a movie it believes in. NBC and CW, however, are not quite so lucky: even if one is to believe their excuses, the negative media attention they have received from this incident ought to be enough to incite a change in internal policies about politically-controversial ads if nothing else.