Senator Lautenberg Calls for Censorship Hearings - Disney

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Senator Lautenberg Calls for Censorship Hearings after Disney Refuses to Release Documentary because of Fear of Political Retribution

Calls Disney Incident Latest in a Disturbing Pattern of Corporate Censorship of News Broadcasts and Films

WASHINGTON, DC – In light of the most recent incident involving the Disney Company United States Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) called for hearings of the Senate Commerce Committee to look into the pattern of politically based corporate censorship of the news media and the entertainment industry.

In his letter to Commerce Committee Chairman Senator John McCain (R-AZ) requesting a hearing Lautenberg wrote, "While corporate leaders rarely exercise discretion over gross indecency or violence, we have seen a number of corporate conglomerates censor material recently based on political content."

The most recent episode Senator Lautenberg cites in his letter to Senator McCain involves the Disney Company. Disney, which is currently distributing "Kill Bill" – one of the most violent movies in history, is refusing to distribute the new film by Michael Moore because it is critical of President Bush. Also Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns several ABC affiliate stations, preempted the April 30th edition of ABC News' Nightline, because Sinclair believed that the edition would be critical of the Iraq War. Also, CBS, which aired a notoriously indecent Super bowl halftime show, refused to air an advertisement by MoveOn.org during the Super bowl broadcast because of its political content, and censored the entire mini-series, "The Reagans," after complaints from conservative organizations.

"This is a fundamental question of free speech in our society," said Senator Lautenberg. "As our troops are overseas fighting to give the Iraqi people the very freedoms we enjoy, we see some of this country's largest media conglomerates undermining our freedoms here."

Lautenberg's letter to Senator McCain is attached to this release.

May 5, 2004

Honorable John McCain

Chairman

Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman McCain:

I am writing to request that the Committee hold a hearing on the disturbing pattern of politically based corporate censorship of the news media and the entertainment industry in recent weeks. While corporate leaders rarely exercise discretion over gross indecency or violence, we have seen a number of corporate conglomerates censor material recently based on political viewpoint.

The most recent episode involves the Disney Company. Disney, which is currently distributing "Kill Bill" – one of the most violent movies in history, is refusing to distribute the new film by Michael Moore because it is critical of President Bush. Also, Sinclair Broadcast Group preempted the April 30th edition of ABC News' Nightline, because Sinclair believed that the edition would be critical of the Iraq War. CBS, which aired a notoriously indecent Superbowl halftime show, refused to air an advertisement by MoveOn.org during the same Superbowl broadcast because of its political content. In addition, CBS censored an entire mini-series, "The Reagans," after complaints from conservative political activists.

As you know, the Supreme Court has stated that censorship of news media and political expression are the most dangerous forms of suppression of speech in our society. See New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U. S. 254, 270 (1964). I am concerned that Americans are facing an emerging threat of political censorship – not from the government – but from some of our nation's largest corporations.an

Thank you for consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg

http://lautenberg.senate.gov/~lautenberg/press/2003/01/2004505B39.html