GetUp! TV ad not shown by Seven during OlympicsIt 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!