03.31.08
NBC Lawyer who nixed troop ad gives generously to Congressional Democrats
The Majority Accountability Project has found that the NBC lawyer who refused to allow a non-profit group to air an advertisement thanking American troops for their service has donated at least $45,000 to a host of Congressional Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York Senator Hillary Clinton and the campaign committees of House and Senate Democrats.
According to a Fox News report, Richard Cotton, the general counsel for NBC/Universal, was one of two network officials who decided not to sell ad time to Freedoms Watch, which describes itself as a nonpartisan movement dedicated to preserving, protecting, and defending conservative principles and promoting a conservative agenda.
Freedoms Watch prepared a series of television ads thanking American troops stationed abroad for their service and for spending time away from their family and friends this Holiday season. The ads will run from December 6 until December 21, and while CNN and Fox are both airing the groups commercials, NBC refused to sell airtime on their cable networks, MSNBC and CNBC.
Read on . . .
According to the Fox report, NBC will not sell airtime unless Freedoms Watch removes their website address from the commercial. The groups website address, www.freedomswatch.org, appears at the end of the 30 second spot, under a banner that reads thank you.
“NBC asked us to re-vamp our Web site. They wanted to censor us, and we said, 'No we're not going to be censored, Freedoms Watch president and CEO Bradley Blakeman told Fox News.
Neither CNN nor Fox objected to the commercials content.
A letter to the Senior Vice-President of NBC News Network Sales posted on the Freedoms Watch website reports this is the second time the Peacock Network has refused to sell the group ad time.
While NBCs rejection of a Freedoms Watch ad from August was never explained, according to the group, Federal Elections Commission (FEC) records are sure to raise eyebrows.
According to FEC records, Cotton has been a generous donor to Democrat campaigns and liberal causes. Earlier this year, he donated $1,000 to the political action committee (PAC) of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and last year gave the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) $7,000.
Over the past decade, Cotton has contributed at least $45,000 to Congressional Democrats, including $2,000 each to Clinton and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).
Cotton has donated to some GOP candidates, including $1,000 earlier this year to House Republican Leader John Boehner, D-OH, but those contributions are a fraction of his total giving. While Cotton has written checks to the DCCC, DSCC, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), he has never given to a Republican campaign committee, according to those FEC records.
Ironically, it was one of NBCs networks, MSNBC, that earlier this year created a stir when they detailed the political giving of journalists and news organizations.
Because appearing to be fair is part of being fair, most mainstream news organizations discourage marching for causes, displaying political bumper stickers or giving cash to candidates, the cable news station reported.
The pattern of donations, with nearly nine out of 10 giving to Democratic candidates and causes, appears to confirm a leftward tilt in newsrooms, according to the MSNBC study, which found that 125 journalists gave to Democrats and liberal causes since 2004, 16 to Republicans, and two gave to both parties.
Noting that many news organizations have applied the rules to only political reporters and editors, the report revealed that NBC, MSNBC and MSNBC.com say they don't discourage or encourage campaign contributions, but they require employees to report any potential conflicts of interest in advance and receive permission of the senior editor.
It is unclear whether a similar policy exists for other network executives, such as Cotton.
Originaly from Source