Leaked: NPR Demands Gosnell Movie Remove The Word ‘Abortion’ From A PAID Advertisement
NPR blocking out the word ‘abortion’ from a paid ad by conservative filmmakers isn’t an example of bias in the Media (D).
Then what is it, exactly?
John Sullivan, the Executive Producer of the movie about abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s clinic of horrors wanted to promote the film by sponsoring NPR’s Peabody Award-winning interview show, Fresh Air, and he was willing to pay six figures to do so.
The Daily Beast broke the story yesterday citing leaked emails.
Early last month, John Sullivan, executive producer of the new film Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer(in theaters Oct. 12), reached out to National Public Radio to purchase a sponsorship for the Peabody Award-winning interview show, Fresh Air.
Sullivan, who was prepared to spend as much as six figures, crafted his ad copy to answer the question you’re probably asking: Who is Gosnell? The proposed ad was as follows, “Support for this NPR program comes from the film Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer. The film is the true story of abortionist Kermit Gosnell. A story the mainstream media tried to cover up because it reveals the truth about abortion.”
No dice. According to e-mails provided to The Daily Beast, NPR’s representative ran it up the legal flagpole and came back with a disappointing answer. In addition to other minor tweaks to the wording, their response stated, “The word ‘abortionist’ will also need to be changed to the neutral word ‘doctor.’”
They went back and forth, with Sullivan suggesting the neutral term ‘abortion doctor’ and NPR nixing that and responding with the suggestion, ‘Philadelphia doctor.’
That was the deal breaker for the makers of the Gosnell movie. They want to accurately promote their movie about an abortionist that was convicted of three life sentences and kept the severed feet of aborted babies (among other things) in jars in his clinic.
When queried about the decision to remove the word ‘abortion’ from the ad, NPR’s Senior Director of Media Relations, Isabel Lara, said, ‘Sponsor credits that run on NPR are required to be value-neutral to comply with FCC requirements and to avoid suggesting bias in NPR’s journalism.‘ She then sent what NPR determined to be acceptable ad copy to Matt Lewis, author of the Daily Beast article. The copy read:
Hat Tip Distribution, with the film ‘Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer,’ based on the true story of Philadelphia doctor Kermit Gosnell. Out Friday.
NPR’s position is that you can’t mention the word ‘abortion’ in an advertisement for a movie about an abortionist.
Lovely.
The Daily Beast then found several instances of NPR using the term ‘abortion doctor’ in their titles, though not in paid sponsorships.
It’s still unclear why the term “abortion doctor” couldn’t be included. A quick search turns up past NPR stories with titles like, “Joyce Carol Oates’ New Novel Begins With an Abortion Doctor’s Murder” and “Abortion Doctor Killer Appeals to Kansas High Court.” NPR even did a special series called “Training the next generation of abortion doctors.” Heck, there was even an NPR news story about Kermit Gosnell himself, and it was headlined, “Convicted Philadelphia Abortion Doctor Gets Life in Prison.”
Too many people don’t even know who Kermit Gosnell is. This movie, Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer, is aiming to change all of that.
If only they could promote the film that has been 4 years in the making.
This isn’t the first time that the movie has hit roadblocks. Back in 2014, Kickstarter refused to allow the filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney to crowdfund on their site. They used Indiegogo instead and broke Spike Lee’s crowdfunding record, but of course, you probably didn’t hear about that in the Media (D).
It seems that the story of Kermit Gosnell and the way he severed the spinal cords of born-alive babies in his blood-covered clinic isn’t one that the Media (D) wants out there.
Why is that?
Well, for starters, it probably wouldn’t make a great coffee table book.
Back in 2013, when Kermit Gosnell was on trial for murder, left-leaning commentator, Kirsten Powers wrote about the lack of coverage in the media.
Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Haven’t heard about these sickening accusations? It’s not your fault. Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page.
In his article, Lewis concedes that Gosnell investigation and trial did get media coverage, but it’s the ‘placement, emphasis, and repetition’ of the story that matters.
That has been made painstakingly clear in the Trump era — the Media (D) will stick to a story to push a narrative even if there is no there there. And the ones that go against the narrative will be buried. Look at the recent New York Times article about window coverings for U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s residence. The headline read that Nikki Haley spent $52,701 on curtains, but paragraphs down into the piece, it says that the decision was made by the Obama administration in 2016, and Haley had no say in it.
Lewis also writes that many admit that there is a left-tilting bias in the Media (D), but, ‘despite a constant stream of examples of bias, the media has shown zero interest in addressing this problem…‘
Almost everyone concedes that the mainstream media tilts leftward, and almost everyone agrees that nobody has a “right” to free publicity for their movie. The interesting thing here, though, is that the producers of Gosnell can’t even pay to accurately promote theirs.
A couple of the producers of the Gosnell movie are asking some very interesting questions.
“NPR receives taxpayer funds,” said Gosnell producer Ann McElhinney. “They have a duty to push aside their own prejudices and opinions and apply fair and consistent standards and allow paid advertising even if the ads are promoting something they would rather remain hidden from their listeners.”
“Perhaps Congress should look into the matter. If they’re so well-funded that they’re turning away advertisers like us, maybe they don’t need government subsidies anymore,” continued McAleer.
Source: The Daily Beast
That’s a fair question.
If they’re doing so well that they can refuse a six-figure advertisement to accurately promote a film, then maybe they really don’t need taxpayer dollars.
Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer is out on October 12.
Extremely talented conservatives have written, produced, and acted in this movie, and it looks spectacular.
It’s an important movie that needs our support.
Conservatives often complain that Hollywood doesn’t reflect them.
Here you go.
Get on out there and support this film.
These conservatives have worked hard to expose how horrific abortion is, and they need to be rewarded for their success.
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