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August 12, 2008
Last night's Media Watch covered the story of GetUp's Tibet ads mysterious non-appearance on Channel Seven. Apparently Seven accepted the bookings, didn't run the ads, then gave a bunch of conflicting stories about why they didn't screen. Naturally enough, GetUp is using the word 'censorship', which is understandable in the circumstances.
You'd think that the people at Channel Seven would understand how this media/publicity thing works, but maybe not. The GetUp campaign instead got a bunch of free coverage from other media keen to let us all know Seven is a horrible TV station.
The SMH got in early, saying Kerry Stokes had intervened to make sure the ad ran. Which we now know, it didn't. The Australian has "Seven at home in moral pollution in Beijing", whatever that's supposed to mean. Crikey covered the blogs, and The Age covered it as a claim, counter-claim story.
We'll probably never know why Seven pulled the ads, but it was silly to think they could do so without getting their story straight first. Maybe they thought we'd all be so captivated by the Olympics nobody would notice.
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Seven did not wish to upset the Chinese in Beijing. They had a lot to lose.