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CBS's decision to air an anti-abortion ad during Sunday's Super Bowl has kicked off a heated debate about the process through which the network vets advocacy advertisements.
Focus on the Family claims that CBS helped the antigay group script the contentious pro-life ad featuring college football star Tim Tebow.
The Daily Beast reported that the spot has not been made public, but is expected to feature Tebow, winner of the Heisman Trophy, and his mother, Pam. In the ad, Pam will speak about her decision to go through with her 1987 pregnancy with Tim after contracting dysentery in the Philippines, despite advice from a doctor to end her pregnancy in order to protect her own health. According to Focus on the Family, the ad will not feature any explicit political message. Its tagline will be, "Celebrate family, celebrate life."
According to The Daily Beast's Dana Goldstein, a spokesman for Focus on the Family said the organization "has actually been working closely with CBS executives for months on the ad's script."
"There were discussions about the specific wording of the spot," said Gary Schneeberger, spokesman for Focus on the Family. "And we came to a compromise. To an agreement."
Schneeberger also praised their prolific relationship with the network.
"We've worked with [CBS] almost since the beginning," he said. "Our senior vice presidents talked to CBS executives throughout the process. It was a very cordial, very professional, fruitful relationship."
CBS declined to comment, but the network maintained that such cooperation is not unusual.
The revelation about a working relationship arrives as pro-choice, gay, and other groups allege that CBS failed to publicize a change in policy to accept some advocacy ads and that standards for the ads have been applied inconsistently, reports the Advocate.
When it comes to the subject matter at hand, pro-choice activists are enraged and are trying to get the ad taken off the CBS roster and are urging boycotts of the network.
Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, called news of such cooperation "appalling." NOW and the Women's Media Center are working to nix the ad.
"If true, CBS is not just selling ad time for profit, but has been affirmatively working hand in glove - in secret - to promote Focus on the Family's agenda. When you recall that Focus on the Family wants to overturn Roe v. Wade ... this revelation is extremely, extremely disturbing."
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