Fox News Says “No” to Palm Center’s DADT Ad
Earlier today, the Palm Center announced that Fox News had rejected an ad it had prepared relating to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
As Media Matters for America’s Karl Frisch wrote:
Once again proving that Fox News has a love/hate (perhaps more hate/hate) relationship with the LGBT community, the right-wing network has rejected an advertisement from the Palm Center featuring openly gay troops discussing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), according to a press release obtained by Media Matters.
Palm Center’s communications consultant Cathy Renna told Media Matters that Fox News’ ad department wrote in an email explaining their rejection of the ad, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is still on hold, so claiming the military is planning repeal is incorrect.”
Palm Center Director Aaron Belkin said in a news release about the Fox News decision, “I am surprised that Fox News would reject an ad featuring allied Generals, given that both host Bill O’Reilly and guest contributor Liz Cheney have expressed support for open gay service. This is an important time for input from all sides on this issue, and I hope Fox will reconsider.”
According to Palm, the ad includes video clips made in May 2010 featuring Major General Walter Semianiw, chief of military personnel in the Canadian Forces, and Major General Simon Willis (retired), former head of defence personnel in the Australian Defence Force. Major General Semianiw has since been promoted to Lieutenant General and leads Canada Command.
The ad can be seen below.
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