Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

Opinion

Network shouldn't censor band

Isaiah Warner 
Opinion Columnist

Bruce Springsteen best summed up the way the Dixie Chicks were blacklisted after Natalie Maines said she was ashamed the president was from Texas during a 2003 concert in London. 

"For them to be banished wholesale from radio stations, and even entire radio networks, for speaking out is un-American," Springsteen said. 

NBC's commercial clearance department has continued to punish the group for a statement that was made years ago. 

Shut up and Sing, a documentary from the Weinstein Company, illustrates what the three women from Texas went through after Maines exercised her right to free speech.

The documentary captures the events that occurred in the wake of Maines' statement. The women witnessed CD burnings, experienced picket lines at concerts and received death threats. 

NBC has decided it will not air an advertisement for the movie. It cannot accept the spots because they are disparaging to President Bush, ThinkProgress.org reported.

To use the language of the Boss, NBC can now be deemed un-American. Anyone with common sense understands an advertisement is not necessarily an endorsement of a product by a network. This common sense eludes NBC. 

By picking and choosing what political views are given airtime, NBC has censored the public's airwaves. 

It has chosen to fear the Americans who ignore the First Amendment instead of choosing to fight the ignorance upon which it bases its decisions. 

The television industry should follow in the footsteps of Edward Murrow instead of the footsteps of Toby Keith, who publicly stated that criticizing the president is unpatriotic. 

Questioning the decisions of the commander in chief is not only acceptable -- it is the most American action that can be taken. 

Americans have the responsibility to question the authority of the president. Not doing so can allow leaders to pick and choose what portions of the U.S. Constitution they want to honor. NBC shouldn't filter out the advertisements of those who choose to question the president.

While most who criticized the Dixie Chicks supported the war to bring freedom to Iraq, they did not support allowing the exercise of freedom that our bravest soldiers fight for. 

NBC should honor their sacrifice by allowing the airwaves to be the property of the public our military protects.

Warner, president of the Young Democrats at UH, 
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu