TURN OFF CBS Campaign:
E-mail 10 friends to ask them to turn off CBSAsk other communities to support usMedia Coverage:
One of the goals of the boycott is public education. If you had good media coverage in your area, please let us know. Here are a few examples of recent successes:
SF Chronicle
Datebook interview with Andrew Brother Elk 2-25-04 by Laurel Wellman. The Chronicle is the largest circulation daily serving the 7 million Bay Area population. READ IT HERE.
ABC Eyewitness News
Showed traditional Pomo Dancers doing a social dance for the first time on TV! Helped educate the public about real Indian dancing. Several million viewers: Bay Area.
CNN
Ran the story all day Feb. 13, Wolf Blitzer discussed. Several millions of nationwide views.
SF Examiner
Ran a story with the facts and contact info. Couple hundred thousand readers.
E! Online and Yahoo News
Both ran the story for several days online. Millions of views.
Radio
NACC has participated in over 50 radio interviews in the past two weeks, covering the Yukon to Mexcio.
National Updates:
1. Week in review: US Senators weigh in
2. That wasn’t an apology:
3. Use of Navajo song:
4. What’s wrong withe this picture?
NACC Position on Apologies
Have you ever received an apology that reeked of insincerity? “C’mon, I’ve said I’m sorry, what more do you want” — which really translates into “I know I did something wrong, but I’m not going to take responsibility for it.”
A brief recap: CBS broadcast racist programming into 26 million homes on Sunday February 9, 2004. This sparked outrage and upset by many people of all races throughout North America. Many elders and young people in the Native American community were saddened and disappointed by the use of “entertainment” to perpetuate blatant racial stereotypes. These stereotypes damage people. Hence,
NACC began its “TURN OFF CBS” campaign, which has garnered widespread support in North America.
So far the Grammy Awards and Arista have not offered an apology, and CBS offered a two word apology ‘if we offended anyone.”
Sorry, here is a little primer on apologies:
To fulfill its responsibility as a public broadcast network, one that uses publicly owned airwaves to earn company income, CBS must provide each of the following remedial measures before our boycott is called off:
1. Acknowledge fully its responsibility for the broadcast racism during the CBS/Grammy Awards Show. (“if we offended anyone” does not fulfill this measure).
2. Provide the nation with a full, frank, and detailed explanation for how this carefully constructed performance made it onto the airwaves, past its regular company quality control standards, past the five minute delay system touted so prominently after the Superbowl, and past the time zone tape delay system.
3. Provide a full and frank explanation for CBS’s advance knowledge of this performance, detailing company officials who reviewed and approved of its broadcast, interactions among show producers and staff, and communication with the artists involved.
4. Establish company standards and mechanisms to insure that racist programming, whether intentional or not, will no longer be broadcast on the nation’s airwaves by CBS.
5. Recognize and honor Native Americans cultures, through concrete remedial educational initiatives to correct the damage that was done. NACC can suggest a number of people CBS can work with to fulfill this measure.
6. The formal apology and remedial measures to take full responsibility must be communicated by CEO Les Moonves or a similar high ranking CBS or Viacom official.