Clear Channel, the nation’s largest radio station operator and owner of thousands of billboards, seems to have one policy during the election and a different one after it.
For example, Clear Channel is now opposed to controversial messages on its billboards.
The image planned for the anti-Wal-Mart billboard was unusual — a fire-breathing Godzilla standing next to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge — and the language was strong: “The Wal-Monster will destroy Staten Island businesses and devastate our quality of life.”
But New Yorkers may never see the billboard, which was supposed to go up on the island, because Clear Channel, the giant radio network that also runs an outdoor advertising company, has rejected it, saying its image and language are too inflammatory.
Officials of the labor union that was planning the message to help fight a Wal-Mart proposed for Staten Island yesterday accused Clear Channel of improper censorship, asserting that the company was taking pains not to offend Wal-Mart Stores, the country’s largest company. […]
Paul J. Meyer, the chief executive of Clear Channel Outdoor, said that because billboards are a type of advertising that people cannot avoid, his company felt an obligation to restrict a message that might offend.
Funny, Clear Channel wasn’t worried about this before the election.
A billboard recently put up in Orlando bearing a smiling photograph of President Bush with the words “Our Leader” is raising eyebrows among progressives who feel the poster is akin to that of propaganda used by tyrannical regimes.
Raw Story confirmed the billboard’s existence Monday evening. The billboard pictured, which is on I-4, says that it is a “political public service message brought to you by Clear Channel Outdoor.”
So, let’s get this straight. A billboard comparing Wal-Mart to Godzilla is so controversial, Clear Channel is willing to break a contract and hide it from public view so no one is offended. This, however, hanging in Orlando, is just fine:
Did I mention that Clear Channel is home to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, recently struck a deal with Fox News, is founded by a Bush pioneer, and was the only “news” outlet in America that organized pro-war rallies in 2003?