Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.ads From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: ads Tue, Jun 23 1992 Date: Tue, 23 Jun 92 05:14:12 EDT Message-ID: 06-23 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update June 23, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network NEW FOX PRESIDENT IS FIRED: Stephen Chao, the newly named president of Fox Television stations, has been fired by Fox owner Rupert Murdoch after a male stripper he hired disrobed in front of company executives and guests at a weekend gathering in Aspen, Colo. Chao apparently wanted to make a point about censorship. High-profile guests listening to Chao's speech included Defense Secretary Dick Cheney. FOX CHAIRMAN DESCRIBES FUTURE: Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch Monday told affiliates of his glitzy news look of the future, described internally as a "bleed and bleed" newscast. The focus: Graphics and spicy stories. "The dissemination of news and entertainment must be linked almost umbilically," said Murdoch Monday. About 30 Fox affiliates now air news shows. Nearly 100 Fox affiliates do not air news. NRA AD MENTIONS NBC CHIEF: Cable News Network has been airing a star-studded National Rifle Association spot that suggests NBC News President Michael Gartner is a gun control advocate. The ad quotes a USA TODAY column Gartner wrote earlier this year. The implication is that Gartner is biased and NBC News must be as well. Two versions were submitted to CNN from the NRA, one mentioning Gartner's title and job and one not. (For more, see special NRA package below.) RICE TO JOIN DDB NEEDHAM: Advertising Agency DDB Needham Chicago said Monday Nancy Rice will join the agency in early July as a group creative director. Rice moves to Chicago from Minneapolis, where she had been executive vice president, creative director, at Rice & Rice Advertising since 1985. HAWAII BUREAU TO RUN CAMPAIGN: The Hawaii Visitors Bureau plans to launch a special one-week $220,000 radio and newspaper advertising campaign. The campaign is designed to encourage West Coast residents to take advantage of new low air fares. It will run between June 24 and June 30 in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego. SIMON, NESPRAL TO HOST ON NBC: National Public Radio host Scott Simon Monday said he will sign with NBC News to co-anchor "Sunday Today" and the new "Saturday Today" when it debuts Aug. 1. Simon will join Spanish-language Univision newsreader Jackie Nespral, 26. Simon and Nespral will replace "Sunday Today" co-anchors Garrick Utley and Mary Alice Williams. PADRES, GIANTS STRIKE OUT: CBS' San Diego at San Francisco baseball game, starting 3:00 p.m. EDT Saturday, drew a season-low 2.8 overnight rating. That is down from a 4.1 overnight for a Pittsburgh-Los Angeles game on the same weekend last year. The San Francisco game got competition from ABC's U.S. Open and NBC's Olympic trials. WUSSLER INTERESTED IN NBC: Former CBS president and Turner Broadcasting Systems executive Robert Wussler is in discussions with General Electric to acquire all or part of NBC, Mediaweek reports. Paramount Communications is apparently also interested in CBS, but might settle for a minority stake, Mediaweek says. FEMCARE TO BE INTRODUCED: A $10 million TV and print ad campaign is planned for FemCare, an over-the-counter vaginal yeast infection medicine to be launched by Shering-Plough Health-Care products this month. William Douglas McAdams advertising is handling the campaign. OLYMPICS ARE SELLING WELL: NBC has less than $70 million of its $500 million in Summer Olympic advertising time to sell before the Games beginning July 24, Advertising Age reports. NBC is expected to sell out the Summer Olympics without having to discount its prices. CBS had to discount prices to sell out the Winter Olympic Games. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON NRA: CURRENT AD SPECIFIES GARTNER: Two versions of a National Rifle Association ad submitted to CNN mention NBC president Michael Gartner. One omits his title. That script cites the "media" as seeking changes in the constitution. Says Joe Uva, executive vice president of advertising sales for Turner Networks, "We asked for a clarification," which resulted in the current ad that includes Gartner's title. CNN DENIES BLASTING NBC: CNN says it is not using the ad to take a shot at rival network NBC. "Both scripts were submitted to us and were scrutinized by standards and practices," Uva says. Gartner declined to comment on whether he thought CNN was taking a potshot at a rival. But in the past, he has stated that columns he writes have no effect on news decisions at NBC News. NETWORKS WOULD REJECT SUCH ADS: That all-news channel CNN even airs the ad has raised some eyebrows at the other network news divisions. NBC, ABC and CBS reject so-called advocacy ads and all have virtually the same policy. Such issues, says a CBS spokeswoman, are "best represented in the context of news and public affairs broadcast." CNN says it accepts "issue-oriented" ads meeting "stringent" requirements. (End of package.) Advertising Editors: Ed Kelleher and Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM