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September 15.2000 »
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A small demonstration was staged outside KGW -TV’s studios Sept. 11 near downtown Portland
T he D octor W ill
J udge Y ou N ow
Picketers protest premiere of Laura Schlessinger's
controversial talk show by Jonathan Kipp
ortlands NBC affiliate, KGW-TV, ex­
perienced its first protest in at least 19
years on Sept. 11. The demonstration
was staged in response to the premiere
of the controversial Dr. Laura show.
About 15 protesters held up posters—“Hate
speech causes hate crime,” “Dr. Laura breeds
hate,” “Where in the Bible is the sin of love?”—
and chanted "Hey hey, ho ho, Dr. Laura has got to
go.” A few cars passed by and honked in support.
One sign read, “KGW-8 Hate Speech.” Iron­
ically, NBC’s Will & Grace, a sitcom featuring
two gay characters, won Emmy Awards mere
hours earlier for best comedy series and for two
of its popular supporting actors.
The demonstration occurred without inci­
dent. Brenda Buratti, KGW program director,
said the two security officers present were
requested because the station had no idea how
many protesters to expect and because it wanted
to be prepared to maintain a safe environment.
The television program, scheduled to air
from 11 a.m. to noon weekdays on KGW, stars
Dr. Laura Schlessinger, one of the country’s most
popular radio talk show hosts behind only Rush
Limbaugh. Her audience is estimated to be
about 18 million listeners.
The protest at KGW studios near downtown
Portland was one of many held across the coun­
try. The demonstrations largely were organized
by StopDrLaura.com.
The national grassroots cybercampaign has
been lobbying sponsors for months to pull their
advertisements because of Schlessinger’s dis­
paraging statements about homosexuality. It
claims to honor her right to speak her mind but
maintains that the gay and lesbian community
has a right to convince corporate America to
pull its support of her radio and television
shows.
Sponsors have responded to the pressure in
significant numbers. All summer long, corpora­
tions have announced the cancellation of
planned media buys that included Schlessinger’s
television show.
P
uratti said that she and KGW were not aware
of Schlessinger’s remarks about gays and les­
bians when they entered into a contract with Para­
mount Domestic Television and purchased the
show. She now says the station might have made a
different decision had it known about controversy.
B
Buratti noted radio and television program­
ming are much different. She said Schlessinger
is not producing the show.
That is the responsibility of Paramount,
Buratti said. This fact should keep anything
offensive that Schlessinger might say off the air­
waves, she said.
To guarantee that, Buratti is previewing each
Dr. Laura show before it is broadcast. She
acknowledged protesters’ concerns about giving
Schlessinger a platform that provides the host
additional validation.
But Buratti said that she is extremely uncom­
fortable with censorship and that her reaction
would be the same if viewers were picketing the
station for airing Will & Grace. “Censorship is
censorship,” she said.
Some groups across the country opposed to
the Dr. Laura show refrained from picketing
television stations. Some thought protests only
would help boost Schlessinger’s ratings.
bout 400 Neilsen households in the Port­
land area will decide the long-term fate of
Dr. Laura. Buratti said its popularity will not be
known until November, when all shows’ ratings
are measured and published. The program’s tar­
geted audience is women between 25 and 44
years old, typical of daytime television.
But even if its ratings are low, KGW is obli­
gated to air the show at 11 a.m. for at least two
years, assuming it stays in production. Buratti
said the competitive bidding for Dr. Laura
resulted in a contract that doesn’t allow it to be
moved to any other time slot.
“There was a lot of interest in the market to
get this show,” she said, pointing out
Schlessinger’s enormous following on radio.
Buratti said that the 11 a.m. time slot is notori­
ously weak and that Dr. Laura is expected to
increase viewership during this period.
Paramount apparently made the show quite
attractive to Schlessinger and likely is commit­
ted to a large return on its investment. Buratti
said the company built the host her own televi­
sion studio just minutes from her home.
The program replaces The Martin Short Show,
now out of production because of low ratings
nationwide.
A
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