CBS News Sponsors List

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 04:05:48 GMT, Judah wrote:

Eye on America Story about GA Security
================
Bayer Aspirin

Okay, let's pick on Bayer. You can write, phone, or do an online email
at this url: http://www.bayeraspirin.com/contactus.php


all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Okay, let's pick on Bayer. You can write, phone, or do an online email
at this url: http://www.bayeraspirin.com/contactus.php

What's sad is that while everybody was up in arms about writing to CBS when
the story ran, there seems to be so little response to this thread. As bad
as CBS was on this one, it was their advertisers who supported and funded
the report that ****ed so many of us off.

In any event, here is my response to Bayer.. and I'm working my way down the
list to hit the other advertisers as well.

On Wednesday, 14 January, your corporation advertised one of its products on
the CBS Evening News. In that broadcast, CBS aired an inaccurate and highly
misleading "Eye on America" story concerning the security and safety of this
nation's general aviation airports. As the underwriters of this broadcast,
I hold Bayer responsible for this astonishing lapse in journalistic
integrity. Your corporation is funding a broadcast which has knowingly and
deliberately lied to its viewers, and you should be ashamed of yourselves
for supporting this program.

General aviation is a vibrant industry involving more than 600,000 licensed
pilots in the United States alone. Over 18,000 public-use airports dot the
landscape of our country, and more than 145 million people fly in general
aviation aircraft every year. Well over 200,000 people owe their
livelihoods directly to this key component in our national transportation
infrastructure.

As important as general aviation may be, it remains an industry under
threat. A vocal minority -- due to malice, misconceptions, or their own
political agendas -- are determined close airports, impose costly and
unnecessary regulatory restrictions, and eliminate American's freedom to
take to the sky.

There is nothing wrong with a healthy debate on these topics. The report
aired on the CBS Evening News, however, was not journalism in any sense of
the term, and did
nothing to advance this debate. No contrary opinions were sought by the
reporter, and only one side of the story was presented. Instead of
informing it's viewers, CBS sought only to scare and frighten them.

This is not the sort of enterprise that a company such as Bayer should be
supporting. I hope you will reconsider your decision to advertise your
products on the CBS Evening News.

I think Hyundai is also a good sponsor to write to.

Admittedly, though, I bet a lot of these sponsors buy ad time in blocks (X
# of spots from 5pm-8pm, etc.) and don't even know the specific shows they
sponsored, let alone the editorial content... They run it all by the
numbers (frequency, audience, response rates, etc.), and don't pay that
much attention to the details, since they buy so much air time. In radio,
this is SOP...

But it will be interesting to see if some objections from us do make their
way back to the producers...

Anyway, just my 2 cents for the moment...


"Geoffrey Barnes" wrote in
nk.net:

Okay, let's pick on Bayer. You can write, phone, or do an online email
at this url: http://www.bayeraspirin.com/contactus.php

What's sad is that while everybody was up in arms about writing to CBS
when the story ran, there seems to be so little response to this
thread. As bad as CBS was on this one, it was their advertisers who
supported and funded the report that ****ed so many of us off.

In any event, here is my response to Bayer.. and I'm working my way
down the list to hit the other advertisers as well.

On Wednesday, 14 January, your corporation advertised one of its
products on the CBS Evening News. In that broadcast, CBS aired an
inaccurate and highly misleading "Eye on America" story concerning the
security and safety of this nation's general aviation airports. As the
underwriters of this broadcast, I hold Bayer responsible for this
astonishing lapse in journalistic integrity. Your corporation is
funding a broadcast which has knowingly and deliberately lied to its
viewers, and you should be ashamed of yourselves for supporting this
program.

General aviation is a vibrant industry involving more than 600,000
licensed pilots in the United States alone. Over 18,000 public-use
airports dot the landscape of our country, and more than 145 million
people fly in general aviation aircraft every year. Well over 200,000
people owe their livelihoods directly to this key component in our
national transportation infrastructure.

As important as general aviation may be, it remains an industry under
threat. A vocal minority -- due to malice, misconceptions, or their
own political agendas -- are determined close airports, impose costly
and unnecessary regulatory restrictions, and eliminate American's
freedom to take to the sky.

There is nothing wrong with a healthy debate on these topics. The
report aired on the CBS Evening News, however, was not journalism in
any sense of the term, and did
nothing to advance this debate. No contrary opinions were sought by
the reporter, and only one side of the story was presented. Instead of
informing it's viewers, CBS sought only to scare and frighten them.

This is not the sort of enterprise that a company such as Bayer should
be supporting. I hope you will reconsider your decision to advertise
your products on the CBS Evening News.

Very good.

"Geoffrey Barnes" wrote in message
nk.net...
Okay, let's pick on Bayer. You can write, phone, or do an online email
at this url: http://www.bayeraspirin.com/contactus.php

What's sad is that while everybody was up in arms about writing to CBS
when
the story ran, there seems to be so little response to this thread. As
bad
as CBS was on this one, it was their advertisers who supported and funded
the report that ****ed so many of us off.

In any event, here is my response to Bayer.. and I'm working my way down
the
list to hit the other advertisers as well.

On Wednesday, 14 January, your corporation advertised one of its products
on
the CBS Evening News. In that broadcast, CBS aired an inaccurate and
highly
misleading "Eye on America" story concerning the security and safety of
this
nation's general aviation airports. As the underwriters of this
broadcast,
I hold Bayer responsible for this astonishing lapse in journalistic
integrity. Your corporation is funding a broadcast which has knowingly
and
deliberately lied to its viewers, and you should be ashamed of yourselves
for supporting this program.

General aviation is a vibrant industry involving more than 600,000
licensed
pilots in the United States alone. Over 18,000 public-use airports dot
the
landscape of our country, and more than 145 million people fly in general
aviation aircraft every year. Well over 200,000 people owe their
livelihoods directly to this key component in our national transportation
infrastructure.

As important as general aviation may be, it remains an industry under
threat. A vocal minority -- due to malice, misconceptions, or their own
political agendas -- are determined close airports, impose costly and
unnecessary regulatory restrictions, and eliminate American's freedom to
take to the sky.

There is nothing wrong with a healthy debate on these topics. The report
aired on the CBS Evening News, however, was not journalism in any sense of
the term, and did
nothing to advance this debate. No contrary opinions were sought by the
reporter, and only one side of the story was presented. Instead of
informing it's viewers, CBS sought only to scare and frighten them.

This is not the sort of enterprise that a company such as Bayer should be
supporting. I hope you will reconsider your decision to advertise your
products on the CBS Evening News.

"Geoffrey Barnes" wrote in message ink.net...
In any event, here is my response to Bayer.. and I'm working my way down the
list to hit the other advertisers as well.
[...]
There is nothing wrong with a healthy debate on these topics. The report
aired on the CBS Evening News, however, was not journalism in any sense of
the term, and did
nothing to advance this debate. No contrary opinions were sought by the
reporter, and only one side of the story was presented. Instead of
informing it's viewers, CBS sought only to scare and frighten them.

Very nicely written letter. Note that should be "its viewers". No
apostrophe.

I wouldn't normally do this, but you have no email address, and an
otherwise excellent response should not have simple spelling mistakes
to spoil it.

Good catch Kevin!

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 03:24:54 GMT, "Geoffrey Barnes"
wrote:

On Wednesday, 14 January, your corporation advertised one of its products on
the CBS Evening News. In that broadcast, CBS aired an inaccurate and highly
misleading "Eye on America" story concerning the security and safety of this
nation's general aviation airports. As the underwriters of this broadcast,
I hold Bayer responsible for this astonishing lapse in journalistic
integrity. Your corporation is funding a broadcast which has knowingly and
deliberately lied to its viewers, and you should be ashamed of yourselves
for supporting this program.

I pasted Geoff's first paragraph into the CBS website email form, made
one small change, and fired it off.

Again, that address is:

http://www.bayeraspirin.com/contactus.php


all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

I knew if I worked hard enough, I'd be famous one day, LOL. Thanks Dan!

Evident Bayer had its boilerplate response all ready for me:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate your
comments about our recent sponsorship.

Given the wide diversity of media today and wider range of public
opinion on any given issue, applying standards of taste to programs is
not a simple task. Any advertiser who purchases large packages of
advertising time runs the risk of having an occasional ad run in
programming that some might find offensive.

In making commercial buying decisions, we evaluate the size and
composition of the estimated audience along with the cost of the time
and our business needs. We also employ a program screening service
and media buying service to assist us in making sure our commercials
do not air during programs whose subject matter we judge to be
exploitive and/or tasteless.

We appreciate the opinions you have expressed and thank you for
providing us with an opportunity to respond. While there may always
be reasonable differences over what constitutes acceptable
programming, we do try to exercise good judgment in selecting programs
on which to advertise.

Sincerely,

Brenda Stokes
Consumer Relations Representative



On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 06:35:37 -0500, Cub Driver
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 03:24:54 GMT, "Geoffrey Barnes"
wrote:

On Wednesday, 14 January, your corporation advertised one of its products on
the CBS Evening News. In that broadcast, CBS aired an inaccurate and highly
misleading "Eye on America" story concerning the security and safety of this
nation's general aviation airports. As the underwriters of this broadcast,
I hold Bayer responsible for this astonishing lapse in journalistic
integrity. Your corporation is funding a broadcast which has knowingly and
deliberately lied to its viewers, and you should be ashamed of yourselves
for supporting this program.

I pasted Geoff's first paragraph into the CBS website email form, made
one small change, and fired it off.

Again, that address is:

http://www.bayeraspirin.com/contactus.php


all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 15:28:54 -0500, Cub Driver
wrote in Message-Id:
:

We also employ a program screening service
and media buying service to assist us in making sure our commercials
do not air during programs whose subject matter we judge to be
exploitive and/or tasteless.

Brenda Stokes
Consumer Relations Representative

Perhaps Ms. Brenda Stokes would be kind enough to provide contact
information for the services she mentions, so that they could be
educated about the yellow journalism perpetrated by CBS News. They
obviously control significantly more advertising funds than Bayer.