CBS/Infinity Radio has refused to air paid commercial announcements for an upcoming non-partisan symposium on terrorism, claiming "people might be too emotionally affected" by it.
The People’s Truth Forum, which is sponsoring the symposium titled The Radical-Islamist Threat to World Peace and National Security to be held in Connecticut on Sept. 21, was rebuffed by CBS/Infinity Radio when the PTF’s president, Jeffrey Epstein, tried to purchase commercial time to publicize the event.
The official statement from CBS/Infinity Radio said, "Too many people might be emotionally affected by the subject matter. "It's too controversial to be aired at this time."
CBS/Infinity Radio's decision comes on the heels of the recent terrorist bombings in London which claimed over 50 lives.
"The commercial segments were to commence on July 18. They were considered critical to the success of our symposium, which has received quite a bit of favorable response from the 'First Responder' community," Epstein said. "We have people coming from as far away as australia to attend the event."
The symposium is scheduled to feature lectures by Dr. Harvey Kushner, noted terrorism expert; Brigitte Gabriel, a former anchor for world news in the Middle East and a prominent arab-american journalist; Robert Spencer, noted author on the subject of terrorism and publisher of JihadWatch – published weekly in Human Events; and Laura Mansfield, author and counterterrorism expert.
after having preliminarily agreed to air eight 60-second commercial segments on WTIC-aM in Hartford Connecticut – a CBS/Infinity affiliate station – Epstein was contacted by a CBS/Infinity's sales representative with the news of the cancellation. The sales representative stated that the decision had come down from CBS/Infinity's legal division and that the decision was final.
"CBS is blocking a potent message from being disseminated to both our citizenry and the region’s first responders who would benefit from being in attendance," Epstein said, noting, "a number of congressmen and senators from across the country are supporting our efforts."
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., is scheduled to attend and has recently endorsed Epstein's efforts.
"CBS/Infinity Radio joins Sinclair Broadcasting in refusing to air fact-based content about issues important to the country," said David Masak, the media production director for PTF's symposium. "The facts of the threat we face might be disturbing, but that's the truth of the matter. Why CBS/Infinity wouldn't want to take this opportunity to share the facts with the american people, especially in light of the recent bombings in London, says a lot about CBS."
The turnaround is reminiscent of last year's censorship controversy involving Sinclair Broadcasting. During the election season, Sinclair had agreed to air a documentary titled "Stolen Honor," which was critical of presidential candidate John Kerry. But under pressure from the Kerry campaign and an assortment of pro-Kerry 527 groups, Sinclair decided to pull the documentary, replacing it on selected stations with a one-hour news program that used parts of the documentary.
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