The United Church of Christ has asked the Federal Communications Commission to deny licenses to two Miami television stations after church ads were rejected as “too controversial” by the NBC and CBS networks.
The church accused the two stations-WFOR, a CBS-owned affiliate, and WTVJ, an NBC-owned station-of denying fair access to the airwaves when the networks rejected a 30-second spot that highlighted the church's inclusive welcome of all people, including homosexuals.
The church filed its petition Dec. 9 with the FCC because the two network-owned stations' licenses are up for renewal. Under FCC rules, only local stations-not networks-may be the target of licensing challenges.
The two local stations “represent and reflect the ad policies implemented by their respective networks,” church officials said. The complaint was filed on behalf of the church by Angela Campell of Georgetown University Law Center and Andrew Schwartzman of the Washington-based Media Access Project.
“NBC and CBS and their stations must be accountable to the communities they are licensed to serve,” said Gloria Tristani, managing director of the church's Office for Communications and a former FCC commissioner.
“How can it be in the public interest for television stations to exclude a church's message of inclusion?”
The FCC filing signals that the Cleveland-based denomination is going on the offensive after the networks rejected the ads as improper “issue advocacy.” CBS, in its response, said the ads' reference to gay couples was too closely tied to a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. NBC called the ads “too controversial.”
A spokesman for WFOR referred questions to CBS' parent company, Viacom, which declined to comment. A spokeswoman for WTVJ did not immediately return calls for comment.
The networks said the church was free to bypass them and sell the ads to local stations. That would be “impractical, burdensome and expensive,” church officials said.
“If you were asked to bring a case of soda to your family reunion, you could buy it reasonably at a discount store or you could feed $24 into vending machines and buy the bottles individually,” said Robert Chase, director of the church's communications division. “But I ask, which would be the better use of your time and resources?”
Religion News Service