Hair-raising TV spot (on LANDMINES) shunned by Broadcasters: MSNBC

[liberalpragmatist]

This was a public service announcement made by a UN agency. It is hair-raising. Just watch it - there's a link on the page I linked.

American broadcasters have refused to air it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7351263/

It begins with a scene familiar in suburban America — school girls in soccer uniforms climb out of their family SUVs and rush out onto the field, pony tails bobbing behind them, as parents shout encouragement.

But just as the game gets under way, a blast pierces the excitement. Panic and chaos erupt; there are injuries. A mother screams in anguish as her husband emerges from the field carrying the lifeless body of their daughter. The screen goes dark and a tagline comes up: "If there were land mines here, would you stand for them anywhere?"

<snip>

The spot's release by the U.N. agency, which says it sent the PSA to dozens of U.S. broadcasters, including all major networks and most cable channels, has been met by a deafening silence.

<snip>

"Either (broadcasters) have refused to air it or didn’t respond, or they continue to sit on it," says Richard Kollodge, information manager for U.N. Mine Action Service. "Some said it's not appropriate for our audiences, or there were a lot of different reasons."

[Freedom_from_Chains]

1. Does give one something to think about. n/t

[napi21]

2. Interesting that this came fron a UN agy.

I don't remember seeing any other PSA's from them.

I do think it's a very sobering piece of truth, and I hope all the other stations will put it on. It's think kind of reality that is missing from the lives of Americans. Remember when your mother said "clean your plate, there are lots of starving kids in the world".

I know I used to watch the reports of the bombings in foreign countries and wonder why those people stayed there, or read about people being blown up from left over landmines, and wonder why the US didn't make sure they were destroyed before we left the country, but it was so far away, and a place I couldn't relate to, so I really didn't pay too much attention.

This PSA just might make an impact on a lot of people who thought the same way.

[fryguy]

3. one word:: powerful

holy shit should that be aired to snap americans out of their stupor of indifference . . .

[gratuitous]

4. Because official government policy is pro-land mine

And the major media outlets don't like to cross official government policy, especially under the current regime, which has a habit of criminalizing policy differences. (To be scrupulously fair, the Clinton administration didn't do all it could to ban land mines, one of the few homegrown export industries the United States still has.) And if a deep pocket like NBC is too spineless to stand up the First Amendment, you have to wonder just who is going to do it?

[fryguy]

5. you're right

but we also shouldn't forget how fragile the sensitivites of the american people are and that our government is dedicated to protecting the moralities and happy feeling of the country . . .

:sarcasm:

[11 Bravo]

6. I watched it on the msnbc home page this morning.

Holy shit! That has got to be the most powerful 30 seconds of video I have ever seen.