By J. Bennett Guess
Editor, United Church News
Feb. 8, 2005
In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission, the CBS and NBC television networks have defended their decisions last year to reject a United Church of Christ paid advertisement they once dubbed "too controversial."
But today (Feb. 8), the UCC's Office of Communication, Inc., responded with an FCC filing of its own, refuting the networks' claim that the church should bypass the networks and purchase air time on a station-by-station basis, an idea church executives have rejected as "impractical, burdensome and expensive."
Most importantly, says an attorney representing the church, the networks still have not provided a clear explanation regarding the ad's alleged questionable content, given that no local station has reported viewer complaints about the ad.
"The UCC has attempted to mount a national campaign, and it is impossible to do this effectively without using the major national networks," said the UCC's attorneys in formal comments filed with the FCC. "… In short, [the] UCC's advertising is unobjectionable, and it works. The harm that the UCC has incurred from being denied access to the unique reach of major network television is significant."
In rejecting the UCC's "nightclub" ad earlier in 2004, the networks said the UCC's all-inclusive message is "controversial" and, therefore, amounts to "issue advocacy," something the networks say they do not allow. In response, on Dec. 9, 2004, the UCC formally challenged the license renewals of two network owned-and-operated stations in the Miami area, saying they failed to provide viewers "suitable access" to a full array of "social, political, esthetic, moral and other ideas and experiences."
During the ad's test market phase in March 2004, the ads ran without incident on more than a dozen stations, including those affiliated with CBS and NBC. In December, the ads began running nationally on several broadcast and cable networks, again with no complaints.
"To the best of the UCC's knowledge, there has not been a single viewer objection to date," the UCC told the FCC.
A denomination-wide fundraising campaign is underway to finance a second round of national ads in March, just before Easter. The UCC has requested that network executives change their minds and allow the disputed ad to air.
Through accessibleairwaves.org - a website devoted to the ad-rejection controversy - more than 5,500 persons have filed informal objections with the FCC against CBS and NBC and in support of the UCC's right to advertise an all-inclusive religious message.
"While the UCC's original goal was to air a message that all are welcome in the UCC, the rejection of our ad has raised another equally important issue, 'Who gets to define the public interest?'" says the Rev. Robert Chase, executive director of the UCC's Office of Communication. "Have we as a society turned that responsibility over to network executives or those with a narrow religious agenda?"
The 1.3-million-member UCC is being represented legally by Angela J. Campbell of the Georgetown University Law Center and Andrew Jay Schwartzman of Media Access Project, both in Washington, D.C.
"Predictably, the networks have tried to hide behind a lot of unpersuasive legal mumbo-jumbo," Schwartzman says. "But what they haven't done is give a single good reason why UCC's ad shouldn't run."
The Cleveland-based UCC was formed in 1957 with the union of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
