CNN not to air <i>Death of a President</i>
Thursday,
October
26,
2006
Los
Angeles
(Reuters):
Two
major
US
news
outlets,
CNN
and
National
Public
Radio,
will
not
air
advertisements
for
a
controversial
movie
depicting
the
assassination
of
President
George
W
Bush,
citing
the
film's
content,
said
a
network
spokeswomen.
The
movie,
Death
of
a
President,
caused
a
stir
at
the
Toronto
Film
Festival
in
September
where
it
debuted,
and
two
major
US
theater
chains
have
declined
to
screen
the
movie
when
it
debuts
in
the
United
States
on
Friday.
''CNN has decided not to take the ad because of the extreme nature of the movie's subject matter,'' the cable television network said in a statement yesterday. A spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the statement. The network has reported about the movie in recent months. NPR will not run sponsor announcements to avoid any notion that it was reporting about the movie because it took the sponsorships, an NPR spokeswoman said.
''The movie is fairly likely to generate significant controversy and we'll cover it as a news story,'' said spokeswoman Andi Sporkin. ''To take a sponsorship spot would raise questions and cause confusion'' among listeners. Death of a President is told like a documentary that tracks the political drama behind an investigation into Bush's murder in October 2007. The film, which was directed by Britain's Gabriel Range, uses digital technology to depict Bush being gunned down, and its detractors have criticized the display of murdering a sitting president.
Its distributors at Newmarket Films say the film ultimately tries to send audiences an anti-violence message and Newmarket noted many major newspapers such as The New York Times and Washington Post have run ads. Death of a President is the opposite of a call for violence,'' Newmarket co-founder Chris Ball said in a statement. ''It's a powerfully cautionary tale about the pernicious effects of violence.'' Earlier this month, the U.S. No. 1 theater chain Regal Entertainment Group and a smaller competitor, Cinemark USA, said they would not screen the movie. About 100 local and art-house venues around the country will screen the film at its debut.
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