Update: AT&T’s Censorship Policy
08.16.07 - 11:07am
Further to the revelation that AT&T censored anti-Bush lyrics in its webcast of last week’s Pearl Jam concert and the communications giants attempts to paint it as an isolated mistake by a junior staff member, news reaches me that a crew member involved has revealed he had previously been explicitly ordered to censor anything “political”.
He told Wired News:
“I can definitively say that at a previous event where AT&T was covering the show, the instructions were to shut it down if there was any swearing or if anybody starts getting political. Granted, they didn’t say to shut down any Anti-Bush comments or anything specific to any point of view or party, but ‘getting political’ was mentioned.”
So, AT&T has changed its story yet again, now admitting it had given orders to censor political speech but saying the issue “has absolutely nothing to do with Net Neutrality. Nothing. Zero. Zilch.”
Right.
As the article hints at, political speech is really code for left-wing speech. They know it, we know it. And if they broadcast say Toby Keith I’m sure someone could find evidence to prove it (although that would entail sitting through a Toby Keith concert, oh the humanity). NIN walked away from MTV because they wouldn’t let them play ‘The Hand That Feeds’ in front of a Bush picture, but there is a war on, to not mention it is defacto support and that’s the bullshit double standard.
Only opposition is taboo, silence is fine, silence is complicity. And pro-war, well that’s just ‘patriotism’. And anyway AT&T are running the NSA warrantless taps without a peep (now legalised by spineless dems) so we know what their silence means.
hi darren
glad you were the first commenter on exit stage right. have seen your comments around other places too.
looking through your links may i also suggest www.spinwatch.org to you.
i won’t lie, i have more than a passing interest in it but i think you may enjoy.
The ever-changing story, I think the guilt is getting to them. More likely it’s just pressure from posts like this one.