WASHINGTON, DC - December 4 - The Fox News Channel has denied the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) the opportunity to advertise on the national news network. The ad, which features actor Danny Glover, shows a replica of the Constitution being shredded and issues a call to action for all Americans to learn more about basic Constitutional rights.

The ad can be seen at www.BeyondGuantanamo.org.

The spot was to air in conjunction with the December 5 oral arguments in the Supreme Court cases of Al Odah v. U.S. and Boumediene v. Bush, of which CCR is a part. The suit will determine the legal future for the men and boys detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention center and whether there is a fundamental right to habeas corpus – a fair hearing before a real court – when you are thrown in jail.
 
“Our ad is about reminding Americans of their Constitutional rights that have been chipped away by the Bush administration,” said CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren. “This rejection is but another example of how Americans are shielded from the truth about Guantanamo and the implications of the war on terror.”

The ad will be running on CNN and MSNBC, but in its rejection letter the Fox News Channel cited that the claims of the ad could not be substantiated.

“We cannot approve the spot with it being Danny Glover's opinion that the Bush Adminstration [sic] is destroying the Constitution.  If you have documentation that it is indeed being destroyed, we can look at that,” said Erin Kelly, a Fox News Channel official, in correspondence with CCR. The story appears on the Media Matters web site.

“Fox’s literal interpretation of the ad is utterly ridiculous,” Warren said. “To believe we are insinuating that President Bush has destroyed one of our most treasured historical documents is foolish and emblematic of the political bias of Murdoch’s media empire. Surely there are other advertisements that Fox airs that use metaphors to express their message—political or not.”

Both Danny Glover and Vince Warren are available for comment.

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The Center for Constitutional Rights has been leading the fight over Guantanamo for the last six years. CCR attorneys were among the first legal professionals to visit the base, and they currently represent more than 200 men and boys detained there. Just last month they became the first attorneys to meet with a former CIA “ghost” detainee, who reappeared last year at Guantanamo after being held at a secret CIA prison.

CCR’s “Beyond Guantanamo” campaign is working to bring national awareness to the issues surrounding this landmark case. Notably, television ads are running this week on CNN and MSNBC, as well as a print ad in the Wall Street Journal. The “Beyond Guantanamo” campaign has also helped tens of thousands of people to send the President an early holiday present—a copy of the Constitution.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.

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