Obama supporters flooded Sinclair Broadcasting with 93k emails threatening to boycott over Ayers ad

[sabra]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26415445/

<snip>

Pro-Obama e-mail flood

More than 93,000 pro-Obama e-mails have flooded Sinclair Broadcasting Group stations that are running the ad, many of them threatening to boycott the stations and their advertisers. Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor warned that other stations that accept the ad can expect the same response.

Efforts to stop the Ayers ad have not come only from the Obama campaign. A film company in Berkeley, Calif., that made an Oscar-nominated documentary in 2004 on the Weather Underground group has issued a cease-and-desist letter to the American Issues Project, saying that it illegally appropriated copyright images from the film for the ad. Brook Dooley, an attorney for the Free History Project, said shots of Ayers speaking into a camera in an interview and the aftermath of a Weather Underground bombing were copyrighted. The group has informed about 150 stations in Ohio and Michigan of its objection, but Dooley said no decisions have been made about legal action.

Separately, a new effort by Democratic strategist Tom Matzzie, called Accountable America, is aimed at warning conservative donors of the legal thicket they may be entering by financing independent attack ads like the Ayers spot. He said his group's first target is Simmons.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Hey, NYC-ers! Don't forget Salem's latest radio entity: WNYM, The Apple

on 97 AM in Hackensack, New Jersey.

http://am970theapple.townhall.com/

Sinclair doesn't have exclusive license to run these spots.

[DangerousRhythm]

2. Excellent!!

Now, this is what I like to see. :D

:woohoo:

[sandnsea]

3. Boycotts. Hear that DU?

How many times have we tried to organize a boycott, only for a select group of DU naysayers to tell us they don't work.

Well Yes They Do and Yes We Can.

[knixphan]

4. AGREED!

[madmax]

7. Completely agree!!

Seems to me a certain bus boycott worked etremely well. But, it didn't happen overnight.

:toast:

[John Q. Citizen]

14. They work extremely well in certain case and fail in others. Don't use a screw driver to drive nails

etc.

Many well organized boycotts have succeeded, and many poorly organized and poorly targeted boycotts have failed. Even some well targeted and and well organized boycotts have failed.

Actually the article has little to do with boycotts and a lot to do with Obama's strategy for combating 'swift boating.'

The article says absolutely nothing about the effectiveness of any boycott. There is nothing reported about any station or channel altering their behavior in response to any boycott.

In fact the article doesn't even claim a boycott is occurring. It says there is a letter writing campaign. Some writing letters are threatening boycott.

So to use this article to promote the idea that boycotts are always effective no matter what is plain silliness.

Hear that?

There is a lesson there somewhere, if only people would study the lessons before they cry boycott in reaction to any and every outrage.

I personally believe the Obama campaign is wise to respond with ads in the same markets and to push people to write letters. I also believe the campaign is wise to have not called for a boycott so far.

Boycotting a TV channel isn't something I expect the Obama campaign wants to do for the next 2 months.

Boycotts work great in certain circumstances and they fail miserably in other situations. Understanding how and why boycotts work or don't is key to deciding whether to implement the tool in the first place.

[sandnsea]

15. On schedule

STFU unless you're calling someone to threaten to boycott.

[John Q. Citizen]

17. Say what?

[Ian David]

5. Where do we click to protest in solitarity? n/t

[sandnsea]

8. Here's some phone numbers

http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Sinclair_Broadcast_Group#Media_markets

I don't have a Sinclair station in my area, but here's the list if you live in one of these markets.

Teresa Heinz said to target the major shareholders if you really want to shake things up.

[Ian David]

10. I just moved to their market five minutes ago. Thanks! n/t

[mod mom]

6. I called an left a voice mail @ Sinclair-FOX and their ABC Affiliate Wsyx in Ohio

Here are phone #'s for Central OH folks interested in doing the same:

WTTE (L)
Fox
28 / 36
[phone]
WSYX
ABC
6 / 13
[phone]

[Ian David]

9. IMHO, it's not the threat of boycotting that gets immediate results.

What creates the effect is the overwhelming tide of people using a "threat of boycott" as a pretext for making an unmanageable volume of phone calls to the company.

I'm not saying that boycotts are ineffective in the long run.

But, in the short-term, what matters is getting enough people contacting them, so that you outstrip their capacity to deal with the problem. Eventually, the "benefit" of being a douchebag is outweighed by the inconvenience of dealing with the backlash.

When important messages are missed because voice-mail boxes are full.

When they have to hire two or three temps just to handle your phone calls.

When they have to pay a Public Relations hack $300 an hour to consult with them on the issue.

When the protesters start calling the company's Public Relations agency about it, who then charge their client $300 an hour for taking the calls.

When receptionists grumble and gripe during lunch, or cry on their boss' desks, when important meetings are interrupted by a protester on the phone pretending to be someone they are not, when the sheer weight of the protest creates Virtual Attrition that hampers the company's ability to function at the smallest levels-- THAT is what gets the short-term results.


We learned this lesson early in the "Stop Doctor Laura" campaign.

VOLUME.

I'm not a lawyer, but this is how we were trained during the Stop Dr. Laura campaign:

You are legally allowed to call someone at a business once every 8 hours, for legitimate purposes, before it becomes harassment.

That means if you have phone numbers for ten different people at a company, you can call each of those 10 people once every 8 hours. That's 10 calls per 8 hour period.

The more people you can get contact information for, the more times you can call the company (once per person) per shift.

If you call at 9:00 AM, and someone is working late after 5 PM, you get to call them twice that day.

Be careful not to make the same mistake I made with Tom DeLay's office. He had three different phone numbers, in three different area codes listed, which were all answered by the same, single person who threatened to refer me to The Capitol Police. Watch out for that. Make sure you are actually speaking to different people.

[NatBurner]

11. sweet

love it!

[Median Democrat]

12. Remember - Sinclair Broadcasting Brought Us Stolen Honor Smear in 2004...

A month before the 2004 election to smear Kerry. Of course, they are at it again.

[KharmaTrain]

13. Target The Local Advertisers...

Sadly all the letter is the world to these goons will get circular filed (and hope they do...more on that to follow). The people could care less about the "sheeple"...you're only numbers, what WILL get their attention is a phone call from a "concerned" advertiser...especially one that has gotten a lot of negative feedback (protestors, phone calls and blog postings) due to their association with the station. The more local the better...car dealers, for example, spend a wad on these places and a threat to that revenue is sure to get some attention.

Another action is for people to send registered letters, including a return receipt (so you know the station received the letter) and specify not only your complaint with the station but demand this letter be placed in the station's Public Inspection File. Then pay a visit to the station and demand to see your letter. The station must allow you access to the file...not only for your letter, but for others as well. If they refuse, they have violated a major FCC rule and face a hefty fine...having that return receipt is pretty damning.

Sinclair is skating on some thin ice these days...like many other broadcast companies...Their stock has lost 50% of their value and are flirting with being de-listed...

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=SBGI#chart2:symbol=sbgi;range=1y;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined

Nothing would feel better than to see this company, Salem and several others that have abused the public airwaves have to file for bankruptcy.

Cheers...

[Hope And Change]

16. K & R!