that is disgusting that networks wont run those spots, and more then a little ironic.

There is no free speech.

They have the right to say what they want. Radio stations have the right to not play their songs. We all have the right to stop buying their albums and concert tickets and the television networks have the right to show or not show whatever they want. THAT is a free society. Just because we have free speech doesn't mean anyone has to listen to it.

It's the people that are the ones not buying their records, concert tickets, and not wanting to hear their music on radio stations. That's FREE commerce and it looks really stupid and ignorant when anyone says it's like Nazi Germany. The government isn't shutting them down and blacklisting them.
You have the right to say Bush sucks and people also have the right to respond. Dixie Chicks looked ridiculous when they whined about the response. They knew what type of people made up their fanbase and they still said their comments.

NBC has every right to refuse to air anything it wants. Unlike the Dixie Chicks, NBC understand that pissing off a portion of its base for no good reason tends to affect the bottom line.

The Dixie Chicks need to GROW UP.

It "cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush." LOL - What a stupid reason. The Bush skits they do on SNL are disparaging to President Bush. This is just another example of the media making up the public's mind for them.

I don't think anyone is saying that the government is trying to take the chicks down, they are saying that it is ignorant americans that crusade against them. I think someone objecting to death threats as a result of their political views has every right to "whine about it"

"Unlike the Dixie Chicks, NBC understand that pissing off a portion of its base for no good reason tends to affect the bottom line."

No good reason? I hardly call disagreeing with the way the president runs the country you live in "no good reason."

Correction, Emlita, there are LOTS of people screaming that it's "censorship." It's not censorship if it's not the government trying to shut you up. In that case, it's one person disagreeing with another.

And JerseyGirl, missing my point entirely, let me rephrase. NBC does not wish to anger a portion of its base, therefore, it doesn't have to. The Dixie Chicks had that decision to make, and they went another way. End of story.

Seriously, those girls need to GET OVER IT. They weren't censored- they just got the backlash they deserved. If Billy Graham said he hated God and wanted everyone to worship satan, his image would suffer too. They knew their fan base and they insulted them. End. Of. Story. And honestly, no one really cares anymore-just the Chicks who know they can't rely on their music to draw attention to themselves.

I agree that people can stop buying their records but should corporations (radio/tv stations) be able to blacklist them in this day and age simply for their opposition to how the current political leader governs. How is that free speech? How is that American?

The comparisons to Nazi Germany are appropriate when you have people burning their cds and stations refusing to play their music. The fact that Clear Channel is so closely tied up with the Bush regime goes to show that the government doesn't have to commit any acts when the "people" will do it for them.

By the Way, The Dixie Chicks have one of the top selling albums even if concert sells are down. So I guess the people have spoken.

not showing something just because it showcases political views that some people may disagree with most certainly is censorship.
This is just a commerical we are talking about--nbc isn't choosing not to show the actual documentary (which is understandable if they think not enough people would watch it, they would lose $).NBC gets paid for a commercial either way. So why not show it at allow the audience to decide whether or not they want to go to the movie?

Because NBC doesn't have to. Know why? They're not run by any gov't entity -- they are a private business, conducting such whatever way they want. The reason doesn't matter. If they said they DID want to run the commercial, then there would be people screaming leftist-anti-bush bias. They can't win, so they choose to stay out of the controversy altogether. And I totally respect that decision.

"not showing something just because it showcases political views that some people may disagree with most certainly is censorship."

You are incorrect, in the legal sense. Look up the definition of the word. What you're implying has to do with being forced by an authority. That is not what NBC is doing here, unless you mean that they're self-censoring. The government is not forcing them to do anything, any more than the government is forcing the Dixic Chicks to keep flogging this dead horse for as much publicity as they can squeeze out of a jaded public.

It's sad that so many people are more inclined to buy their schtick than to just examine this issue logically. They need to grow up and take responsiblity for their own actions.

God it must be soooooo tough to be a liberal singer these days. There are just soooooooo few liberal acts out there that you could throw a stone and hit only six or seventeen of them these days. I admire a band that says something, retracts it, un-retracts it, then disparages their core audience, and disowns their genre. That takes chutzpah. That's admirable. Or whatever.

self censorship is a form of censorship.I'm not at all saying that it isn't NBCs right to do this, I just think it is the wrong way to go. Like I said, why not show the commerical and let people decide whether they want to see it.

Actually, this movie was made by an independent producer and director and was not produced by the Dixie Chicks or their representatives. A member of "the people" that we all supposedly respect so much felt it was an interesting and relevant story to tell at this point. It is a movie about the things people have to respond to in a culture where politics, money, the press, and entertainment are totally linked. It's not possible in this culture, and particularly not in country music, to avoid having a political content. The movie doesn't debate the politics of the Bush administration. And the Dixie Chicks themselves did not sit for new interviews for the movie. This is an independent filmmaker's viewpoint. And final point, making a hit CD and going on tour is to me an example of how one DOES get over it.

And like I said, why not let NBC make its own business decisions without accusing it of being in bed with one political party. Not that you're saying that, but plenty of people are. Isn't it amusing that NBC can put out The West Wing (and shows like it) for years, yet the minute they decide to avoid a musical artist's personal vendetta, all of a sudden they're "right wingers?"

From an article (on MSNBC no less!) by Dave White. I guess the Internet has a different "base" than TV.

"You jewel case stompers feel betrayed, I know. Well boo-hoo. You can’t believe that someone who made records you sang along to and loved could be so unlike you, could be so disrespectful to someone as clearly loveable as our own President? Honestly, you should be grateful that the only people who’ve made you this pissed off in the past six years have been Michael Moore and trio of country singers.

And now you’re extra miffed that the Chicks could sway half a million traitorous citizens into buying their latest piece of anti-American propaganda.

But guess what? They did. And what it means is that you may have the Bush administration on your side of the culture war, you may even have a slim majority of America’s citizenry still on your side, but the rest of us are not going away any time soon. We are the people you think don’t exist, the ones who keep Molly Ivins employed. We are the red-state liberals. We vote and we buy CDs."

Whatever. No conservative folks that I know really care what the Dixie Chicks are doing. That's the whole point.