Seven drops GetUp! TV ad from Olympics broadcast
August 12, 2008 – 9:29 pm
It took ‘em a while, but GetUp! has finally realised that censorship exists in Australia and it can happen to anyone — including them!
GetUp! booked and paid for their television advertisement ‘Silence Won’t Save Tibet‘ to be broadcast on Channel Seven before and after the Olympic’s opening ceremony. It didn’t.
‘The ad was pulled at the last minute. It seems to us that in highlighting free speech issues in Tibet, we’ve run up against some serious ones of our own at home.’
‘We’re upset - we think this has been a deliberate move to silence those members of the Australian community who are concerned about Tibet - especially the many who donated money to help produce the ad.‘? - GetUp! Blog
Seven has thrown around a bunch of reasons as to why, but none are sticking: the live coverage ran over time (but why not show it before?), they didn’t receive a booking (but Getup! has a confirmed booking sheet and CAD approval). They can’t make up their mind and GetUp! is demanding an explanation and for Seven to show it during the closing ceremony.
Check out the Media Watch report on it here. Ad is below.
Now we just have to wait for GetUp! to get wind of the pending Internet censorship in this country…
Cheers Loraine and Paul!
6 Responses to “Seven drops GetUp! TV ad from Olympics broadcast”
Make what you may of this….
August 6th 2008
http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2008/08/06/media-australia-tv-network-denies-censor-role-in-china/
TV Network Denies Censor Role in China
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“As I’m sure that you are aware, there are guidelines that have been put in place for international media coming to Beijing/China in 2008 and there are politically sensitive topics that the Government has asked the foreign media not to cover,” says the e-mail’s author, whose identity is yet to be confirmed, but who is being reported in Australian media to be BMC’s current chief operating officer, Gavin Romanis.
BMC is a joint-venture between Australia’s Seven Network Australia — one of Australia’s leading media companies and this country’s largest commercial television network –and the Beijing City government.
The Seven Network was well-positioned to enter into the joint venture given that the company’s chairman, Kerry Stokes, has been involved in operations in China since the 1990s.
BMC is located in Beijing’s Pangu Plaza, a prime position from which to broadcast as it overlooks Olympic venues such as the main “bird’s nest” stadium and “water cube” swimming centre. Media outlets such as CNN, the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union will utilise its facilities.
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The BMC chief officer writes that “if BMC was seen to be supporting an international programme whose intentions were to cover any of the 5 forbidden topics, the repercussions for BMC and its clients could be disastrous for the Olympic project and any further support for the remaining 26 years of the joint venture’’.
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I’ve been watching the 7 Olympic coverage fairly closely and they seem to hint at censorship from time to time - the last occassion being the silence during the airing of the American national anthem when patiotic words to the anthem were “lost” (although this was deemed to be a “technical glitch”)
There have been other minor incidents which I could elaborate on but will leave it at that for the moment.
By Bob Bain on Aug 13, 2008
Star Spangled Banner bungle by the Commies at the Olympics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK4Vyr1Ufjg
Star Spangled Banner bungled and hidden by the Commies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0vudd–j1Y
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Question :-
Are YouTube deleting material under the guise of “copyright violation” ?
“This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by a third party.”
See video link above - if it is still there !
By Bob Bain on Aug 14, 2008
I’m sure YouTube have been keeping a close on Olympics material… but surely that excerpt in that video is safe.
By Mike on Aug 14, 2008
It’s probably worth recording the fact that Channel 7 have seemingly knocked back the ad for closing ceremony (tonight)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv–radio/seven-accused-of-vetting-ads-during-the-games/2008/08/22/1219262525199.html
—– quote ——-
August 23, 2008
CHANNEL SEVEN has been practising self-censorship by vetting political advertisements already cleared by the advertising regulator before allowing them to run during its Olympics coverage, an advertising agency and leading industry figures say.
The agency EMC said yesterday Seven had refused to run a Wilderness Society ad relating to the Western Australian election until network bosses had seen it. The ad, calling on parties to consider the fate of a wilderness area, had been approved by the regulator Commercials Advice (CAD).
“Channel Seven is so sensitive about its Olympic coverage that they’re breaking with standard industry practice to vet advertisements,” said an EMC client manager, Paul Sheridan.
The vetting of political advertisements by networks is almost unprecedented in Australia.
The managing director of the ad agency Maxus, David Gaines, said approval from CAD was “accepted industry-wide”. “I’m not aware of any situation where a network says, ‘We’ll have a look at an approved ad and then decide whether or not to run it.’ ”
The activist group GetUp! said yesterday Seven had rejected a commercial it had commissioned for the closing ceremony, of the Games, calling for freedom in Tibet. It is the second Tibet ad from GetUp! that Seven has effectively refused to broadcast, though a network spokesman said yesterday only sponsors’ ads would run during the ceremony.
He denied Seven was practising self-censorship.
Paul Bibby
By Bob Bain on Aug 24, 2008
Cheers Bob. I’ll post about this tonight.
By Mike on Aug 25, 2008