SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Ari & I: May 4, 2001
Russell Mokhiber questions White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer
May 04, 2001
Mokhiber: Ari, I have a question about commercialism's reach into areas that were previously off limits to commercialism. Alcatel, the French telecommunications firm, has procured the rights to Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. They are running ads nationwide to use his speech to sell telephone equipment. They have also procured the rights to Lou Gehrig's farewell speech at Yankee Stadium in 1939 -- to sell telecommunications equipment. I know the Yankees were here today, and the [Yankee's] radio announcers are required to say on a double play -- "there's a Jiffy Lube double play," or on a home run,"there's a Coor's Light [Silver] Bullet blast." Does the President believe there are any limits to commercialism in terms of where it can and cannot go?
Ari Fleischer: There are of course a series of laws that govern communications activities. That's a question that you need to address to the Federal Communications Commission.
Mokhiber: Well, I was actually interested in the President's beliefs. For example, would he be offended by an oil ad on the back of a Texas Rangers shirt?
Ari Fleischer: The President believes that the law needs to be followed within the bounds of the free enterprise system.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
Mokhiber: Ari, I have a question about commercialism's reach into areas that were previously off limits to commercialism. Alcatel, the French telecommunications firm, has procured the rights to Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. They are running ads nationwide to use his speech to sell telephone equipment. They have also procured the rights to Lou Gehrig's farewell speech at Yankee Stadium in 1939 -- to sell telecommunications equipment. I know the Yankees were here today, and the [Yankee's] radio announcers are required to say on a double play -- "there's a Jiffy Lube double play," or on a home run,"there's a Coor's Light [Silver] Bullet blast." Does the President believe there are any limits to commercialism in terms of where it can and cannot go?
Ari Fleischer: There are of course a series of laws that govern communications activities. That's a question that you need to address to the Federal Communications Commission.
Mokhiber: Well, I was actually interested in the President's beliefs. For example, would he be offended by an oil ad on the back of a Texas Rangers shirt?
Ari Fleischer: The President believes that the law needs to be followed within the bounds of the free enterprise system.
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
Mokhiber: Ari, I have a question about commercialism's reach into areas that were previously off limits to commercialism. Alcatel, the French telecommunications firm, has procured the rights to Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. They are running ads nationwide to use his speech to sell telephone equipment. They have also procured the rights to Lou Gehrig's farewell speech at Yankee Stadium in 1939 -- to sell telecommunications equipment. I know the Yankees were here today, and the [Yankee's] radio announcers are required to say on a double play -- "there's a Jiffy Lube double play," or on a home run,"there's a Coor's Light [Silver] Bullet blast." Does the President believe there are any limits to commercialism in terms of where it can and cannot go?
Ari Fleischer: There are of course a series of laws that govern communications activities. That's a question that you need to address to the Federal Communications Commission.
Mokhiber: Well, I was actually interested in the President's beliefs. For example, would he be offended by an oil ad on the back of a Texas Rangers shirt?
Ari Fleischer: The President believes that the law needs to be followed within the bounds of the free enterprise system.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.