NEW YORK (Reuters) - CBS on Wednesday defended its decision not to air an ad attacking President Bush (news - web sites) during Sunday's Super Bowl telecast despite objections from some U.S. congressmen who called the move an affront to free speech.
Rep. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, sent a letter co-signed by 26 other congressmen to CBS President Leslie Moonves on Wednesday criticizing the network for refusing to run the commercial from activist group MoveOn.org, that criticizes Bush over the rising U.S. deficit.
The network rejected the MoveOn.org ad based on its policy against "advocacy advertising," which it said was designed to prevent those who could afford to advertise from having undue influence on "controversial issues of public importance."
The Viacom Inc. -owned CBS network defined the term as having "a significant impact on society or its institutions, and is the subject of vigorous debate with substantial elements of the community in opposition to one another."
Ads for this year's Super Bowl are costing an average of $2.3 million each to air on television's most-watched event.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=638&ncid=762&e=2&u=/nm/20040129/en_nm/media_superbowl_bush_dc
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