Fox News Won't Run Ad Calling for a Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

November 23, 2010

Fox News Won't Run Ad Calling for a Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Bill O'Reilly favors getting rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." So do Fox News contributors Margaret Hoover and Liz Cheney. Heck, even Glenn Beck noted a few months ago that there are bigger fish to fry than demonizing the LGBT community. Yet that's not stopping Fox News Channel from nixing a commercial from the Palm Center that calls for a repeal of the military's anti-gay policy.

First noted by Raw Story, Fox News has turned down a 30-second spot from Palm that features several military officials from other countries that allow openly gay soldiers to serve their country. In the spot, these military leaders say that allowing openly gay servicemembers into the military had absolutely no impact on unit cohesion or troop morale, and that it was the right thing to do.

"There is no negative impact of having men and women of any sexual orientation fighting together," says Major General (now Lieutenant General) Walter Semianiw, Chief of Military Personnel in the Canadian Forces, in the ad. "It was a non-event, and it continues to be a non-event."

That non-event, however, is turning into quite the fracas for Fox News. They'll let their hosts compare Democrats to Nazis and socialists, and they'll call family members who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks cowards. Yet they won't allow an ad that says the military should open up its doors to gay and lesbian servicemembers?

Cathy Renna, who runs Renna Communications and works closely with the Palm Center, said that the ad will run on other networks.

"The Center has submitted the ad to MSNBC and CNN and anticipates no problems," Renna said.

Ironically, as word comes that Fox News banned this ad, military officials themselves are starting to suggest that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has got to go. Just today, according to the Wonk Room, Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz said that the process of reviewing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was healthy for the military, and distanced himself from politicians like Sen. John McCain, who continue to call for discrimination in the military.

This comes on top of Navy Chief Admiral Gary Roughead, who said earlier this week that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" review was extraordinary, and that it did a thorough job of evaluating where current military members are at on the idea of serving with gay servicemembers. This review is slated to be released by the Pentagon on November 30, but reports have already leaked some information, indicating that most soldiers don't really have a problem with gay troops serving openly.

So what's the deal, Fox News? Why silence an ad like this, which is not only professionally done, but isn't controversial in the least?

Send the network a message letting them know that they failed big time here. For a network that complains about the lack of accountability and responsibility from other mainstream media outlets, they've got a ton of egg on their face over their refusal to run this ad from the Palm Center. And check out the ad in question below.