Networks shun ad criticising Murdoch press
Commercial TV networks have refused to play an advertisement by GetUp which criticises Murdoch newspapers.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Commercial TV networks have refused to play an advertisement by activist group GetUp which criticises Murdoch newspapers and says, “Don’t let the crap decide your vote….. Tell Rupert, we’ll choose our own government.”
Channels Seven and TEN refused to air the ad, while Nine screened it over four days in Brisbane – then cancelled it after blaming a “coding error”.
GetUp’s national director Sam McLean told Fairfax it was a case of censorship.
“Channel Seven says it’s about taste but I don’t buy that for a second. Channel TEN told us they don’t want to criticise another media network – but this is about Rupert’s son Lachlan being [chairman] of Channel TEN. And Channel Nine’s response about the coding error is interesting but the real question is why they’re refusing to play the ad, which they’re not answering.”
Nine Network confirmed that GetUp would not be charged for the pre-booked slots.
GetUp says it will report all three networks to the competition watchdog for alleged “misuse of market power”.
19 Responses
True dictatorship of anything connected to Murdoch.No one wants to hurt Rupert’s feelings or cop his wrath.He puts fear into everyone connected to the media.!!This is the best poltical commercial made for this election.
…A bit hard to just “buy another paper” when Murdoch owns all the locals.
@sifter some people, like those that live in my state, only have Murdoch papers available to them. If you view the ad it says its ok for him to have an opinion and express it, but not to dress it up as news.
Regardless of which side of the political fence you are on, coverage should be fair and balanced. It does sound like political censorship to me, and will probably mean that it wil get more exposure now due
to the networks not airing it.
So should Channel Seven run commercials for Channel TEN – isn’t that a “misuse of market power”? Of course not. They are commercial stations and they can decide what they screen.
It’s a strange ad anyway, it’s not a political ad, it’s just an ad attacking newspapers with accusations of bias.
These same networks screen the union ads urging us to vote Labor so there doesn’t seem to be a bias to one side of government to me.
one less election ad…I’ll drink to that!
How many times have we heard the networks use the old freedom of speech line when a government wants to change a media law. They took the mining ads when they complained about the mining tax. How pathetic are the networks for banning this. Thankyou TV Tonight for showing this. Our only hope is that the internet nails the final nail in the old world media coffin, and soon. The internet is slowly giving democracy back to the people.
Lol Murdoch is just doing what most of us are doing, trying to ditch this government.
We do think for ourselves, I mean honestly who would change their vote because of what they saw in a newspaper?
I dislike the way GetUp is complaining – do they really think that the networks are obligated to show every ad that’s willing to pay? They can reject the advertising money of any client they wish for whatever reason they like – whether that be because they think the ad is ‘poor taste’, they think that their viewers will respond negatively, or whether it will offend other clients (that put significantly more money into the network).
GetUp need to find a way to get their message across without resorting to dog poo and call to arms attack ads – then the networks might actually consider showing them!
Is it insanity when media is so controlled by one person, to determine the future of all of our lives. GetUp absolutely should report the networks to the media watchdog. This is just way too much power and control.
The loser from all this will ultimately be journalism. Murdoch is free to make his point known but by passing most of it off as ‘news’ is only killing the credibility of the entire news industry.
Oh please, do people really think most people are dumb enough to be swayed by some media mogul? There are plenty of choices if you do not like the Murdoch Empire.
Some people are really barking up the wrong tree.
“Coding Error”. Sounds a bit like TEN saying the soap powder report film was “lost in processing” back in 1974.
Ban it, get free publicity, will be run as “news”.
@Sifter – I’ve never seen so many unsold Sunday Telegraphs at Coles 4pm Sunday. Usually all gone by midday. Last week, a stack as high as the checkout counter. One of their biggest supermarkets in NSW. The Tony Abbott/flag pinup poster was a real turn off apparently.
I’m over it. But happy to see Rupert Reid in the clip. He tried to make it in L.A. Not sure where he is, but a fine young actor. Well this is a tv blog, so i will stick to the tv side of it.
Any way you look at this – it’s bad.
Thankfully we have the likes of this website and social media for the message to cross.
I’m in Sydney and I’ve seen this ad on TV, a few days ago. Not sure what channel I was watching. GEM maybe?
This Murdoch = evil thing is getting out of hand. if you don’t like what he’s selling – buy another paper!! Adverts on TV telling me that I shouldn’t buy/listen to a certain product or service is scraping the bottom of the barrel in my view.
Plus, it just so happens that the Fairfax papers like the Sydney Morning Herald have been editorialising against Rudd as well in this last week. And many Murdoch papers supported Rudd in 2007.
So it’s about Lachlan Murdoch why Seven won’t screen it?
It will be because the TV media companies don’t want to encourage government control of the media, which the Left of the ALP, The Greens and their online presence Get Up! support.
News Limited would love the ad. Free advertising, increased circulation and they would have lots of fun with it for days. One of their favourite games is printing Media Watch and ABC attacks on them and then rubbishing them.
Murdoch is allowed to tell people who to vote, just as anybody else is, he is not running a public broadcaster. The ABC staff try to influence people’s votes too, they just try to hid the fact.
Nobody is obliged to vote as Murdoch wishes, and his campaign so he will fire up the Left and their conspiracy theories.
It is rather childish of the Networks not to run the add. And will just generate more publicity and…
Gee, the last time I looked we weren’t living in a dictatorship but were a democracy. I read about this on Twitter yesterday. It’s an absolute disgrace the way the Networks cowtow to bloody Murdoch. But apparently GEM played it during their 7.00 news broadcast, but I was watching Big Brother so wasn’t watching it.
I am not a Get Up supporter but neither do I appreciate Rupert Murdoch telling me how to vote. This is blatant censorship and I for one am sick and tired of it.I thought we lived in a democracy where the freedom to express your opinions was something to be proud of. The mainstream media/press have behaved appallingly during this campaign.