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AP - December 4, 2007
Advertiser Campaign Costs Savage $1 Million
By KIM CURTIS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A conservative radio talk show host sued an Islamic civil rights group on Monday for copyright infringement over the organization's use of a portion of his show in which he called the Quran a "book of hate."
Michael Savage said the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, violated his rights by wrongfully using a 4-minute segment of his Oct. 29 "The Savage Nation" show in a letter-writing campaign directed against talk radio advertisers. Audio from the show remained on CAIR's Web site Monday.
In the broadcast, Savage called the Muslim holy book "a throwback document" and a "book of hate."
"What kind of religion is this? What kind of world are you living in when you let them in here with that throwback document in their hand, which is a book of hate," Savage said during the portion of the broadcast highlighted by CAIR. "Don't tell me I need reeducation. They need deportation."
In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Savage said he was talking about Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his dangerous and violent brand of Islamic extremism, not about the religion in general.
Savage said he strongly supports freedom of speech, but "it's another thing to take away a man's millstone and try to put him out of business."
A CAIR spokeswoman, who said the audio was not a four-minute segment, but a series of clips separated by beeps, called the suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, "bizarre, sloppy and baseless."
"We expect to prevail based on the facts, the law and the Constitution," Amina Rubin said.
The group's "repackaging" of Savage's comments was "deliberately designed to obscure the specific message conveyed by Michael Savage," according to the suit. "The actual message, while highly provocative and strongly worded, was not intended as an attack on people of faith."
CAIR claims advertisers have stopped airing or refuse to air commercials during Savage's show.
Bill Crawford, a spokesman for Talk Radio Network, which syndicates the Savage show, said "there have been advertisers who've canceled Michael's show because of the CAIR situation." He refused to identify the companies or reveal the amount of lost revenue. Savage said he's lost at least $1 million in revenue.
The suit alleges CAIR is not a civil rights group, but a political organization funded by foreigners with ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups. CAIR denies those claims, saying it opposes terrorism and religious extremism.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jsK2v37SLNSrAJfdRfDoikb4v8hgD8TAA2PG0
CAIR – December 4, 2007
Sears Will Not Air 'Savage Nation' Ads
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 4, 2007 - The Hate Hurts America Community and Interfaith Coalition (HHA) today announced that Sears, one of the nation’s largest retailers, has joined a growing list of advertisers that have stopped advertising or refuse to place their ads on Michael Savage's "Savage Nation" radio program.
In an e-mail to HHA, a Sears official wrote: "Sears Holdings will not be advertising on 'The Savage Nation.'"
HHA, a group of religious and civic organizations seeking to challenge hate speech on talk radio, was formed as a result of Savage's recent rhetorical attacks on Muslims, Islam and the Quran, Islam's revealed text. Coalition members are calling on advertisers nationwide to stop airing commercials on Savage's nationally-syndicated program.
Savage has a long history of rhetorical attacks on a variety of minority groups. He says he has lost at least $1 million in revenue because of the advertiser campaign.
Advertisers that have already stopped airing, or refuse to air commercials on "Savage Nation" include Universal Orlando Resorts, AutoZone, Citrix, TrustedID, JCPenney, OfficeMax, Wal-Mart, and AT&T.
The Hate Hurts America Community and Interfaith Coalition includes public officials and civil rights advocates, as well as representatives of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Latino, and Asian communities.
CAIR Bulletin – December 12, 2007
Sprint tells stations not to air ads on 'Savage nation'
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 12, 2007 - The Hate Hurts America Community and Interfaith Coalition (HHA) today announced that Sprint Nextel, one of the nation's largest communications services providers, will give radio stations instructions that its ads cannot run on "The Savage Nation" or on "any other program that promotes racism or hatred."
In a letter to HHA, a Sprint Nextel official said:
"We would like to thank your organization for bringing this matter to our attention. We investigated whether Sprint did have spots running during 'The Savage Nation' and indeed we discovered spots did run on KERN-AM in Bakersfield, CA during the program in question, as part of a general advertising buy.
"To be clear, Sprint did not specifically purchase airtime during this program; rather we purchased the daypart where this show aired and unfortunately, we were not aware our spots would be running during such a program.
“We have taken the following actions to ensure that our advertising will no longer run on this show: 1. All national and regional radio schedules were checked to see if spots ran within this program in any other markets. 2. Immediate instructions were given to all stations to pull remaining spots from this program/daypart and moved to other dayparts. 3. Moving forward, instructions will be given to stations that Sprint radio advertising cannot run during 'The Savage Nation' or any other program that promotes racism or hatred.”
In a related development, Savage’s syndicator had to issue a statement confirming that Office Depot never purchased advertisements on Savage’s program, and that the ads heard by listeners had been placed inadvertently.
An official with Talk Radio Network Syndications wrote: “Any Office Depot commercials that aired in the program on a local affiliate would have been due to an inadvertent error by that affiliate.”
HHA, a group of religious and civic organizations seeking to challenge hate speech on talk radio, was formed as a result of Savage's recent rhetorical attacks on Muslims, Islam and the Quran, Islam's revealed text. Coalition members are calling on advertisers nationwide to stop airing commercials on Savage's nationally-syndicated program.
Advertisers that have already stopped airing, or refuse to air commercials on "Savage Nation" include AutoZone, Citrix Systems, Universal Orlando Resorts, TrustedID, JCPenney, OfficeMax, Wal-Mart, and AT&T.
Michael Savage has a long history of rhetorical attacks on a variety of minority groups.
The Hate Hurts America Community and Interfaith Coalition includes public officials and civil rights advocates, as well as representatives of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Latino, and Asian communities.
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