By Kevin McCauley
Washington's FitzGibbon Media is guiding the launch of MediaMatters’ DropFox campaign designed to pressure advertisers to pull ads from Fox News due to what it perceives as the News Corp property's"alarming deviations from the usual standards of a news organization."
Travel website Orbitz Worldwide is the first target as members of three gay organizations signed a letter to that company’s CEO, Barney Hartford, to "raise our concerns about your association with a network that advances destructive anti-gay rhetoric."
The organizations, GLAAD, Courage Campaign and Equality Matters, acknowledge that Orbitz, which also runs a gay-specific site, has done "great work" in "partnering and catering to the LGBT community."
They blast Fox for bias "on everything from gay marriage to the repeal of DADT" and conclude that its "coverage is driven by a political agenda and cannot be considered an objective news source."
The gay rights groups want Orbitz to rethink its advertising backing for Fox because that translates into support for an "organization committed to advancing an agenda that demeans many of your customers and advocates limiting their civil rights."
Fox News denies any bias in its coverage.
Brian Hoyt, VP-corporate communications and government affairs at Orbitz, was contacted for corporate reaction to the DropFox effort. He provided a statement in which Orbitz played up its strong support of gay rights and its "perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s ‘corporate equality index.’"
Orbitz says its advertising carries an "inclusive message reflective of our diverse audience." It will continue to "respect and serve the needs of all travelers no matter their politics, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender."
The company noted it "might need to agree to disagree" at times with organizations that it supports.
|