When Gateway wanted to run an ad on the nation’s highest-rated television network, they were turned down flat. The reason: the rather tame commercial‘s accompanying Web site* (theme: “Rip. Burn. Respect.”) features content that contravenes CBS policy against running ads which advocate a position on “any divisive issue,” as the L.A. Times summarizes a spokesperson. Gateway says it’s not the first time CBS has turned them down.

Most reporters note that CBS parent Viacom is a vocal supporter of the Fritz Hollings bill the Gateway site indirectly condemns (“There’s even a bill in the U.S. Senate…”) Another network has agreed to run the ad.

Meanwhile, the English-language site of Arab news network Al-Jazeera is back online after hacking and massive traffic made the server’s content inaccessible in recent days.

The return comes no thanks to Akamai Technologies, the “edge distribution” company whose 13,000 Internet servers help the big boys serve their pages to a wide audience. Akamai cancelled an Al-Jazeera contract, saying only that they “ultimately decided not to continue a customer relationship with Al-Jazeera, and we are not going to be providing them our services.”

By definition, corporations can’t censor. But one old saw seems as true as ever: Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.

* Anyone else think the bad Frutiger 95 kerning has a Star Wars feel?

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2003 at 1:06 pm and is filed under Law & Politics.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.