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.http://lautenberg.senate.gov/~lautenberg/press/2003/01/2004505B39.htmlSenator Lautenberg is kicking right wing ass lately - first the Chickenhawks, now this. Go Frank!
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