| Redding Citizens for Safe Drinking Water's Advertisement Censored by the Record Searchlight by M. Czehatowski |
| Redding Citizens for Safe Drinking Water placed their first Vote Yes on Measure A ad in the Saturday, September 28, 2002 issue of the Record Searchlight. The one-quarter page ad that appeared prominently on page A-3 of the Record Searchlight advocated keeping our water free of untested medications and contaminants. Unknown to readers of the Record Searchlight, the original ad submitted was censored because one line was considered "inflammatory." The Record Searchlight publisher gave us the ultimatum to either take the "inflammatory" line out or not run the ad. Because we felt the public needed to be informed on measure A we were forced to comply. THE "INFLAMMATORY" STATEMENT REVEALED The line that the Record Searchlight objected to was "The 'fluoride' the City of Redding intends to use, hydrofluorosilicic acid, is an industrial waster and contains lead and arsenic." Here's how the orginal section of the censored ad read: |
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| We must question the motivation of the Record Searchlight becuase the information that we wanted in the ad came from the Redding Fluoridation Feasibillity Study that was commissioned by the City of Redding. Verification that the Hydrofluorosilicic acid was a byproduct of the fertilizer industry was confirmed by LCI, Ltd, the Jacksonville Beach, Florida, industrial chemical supplier that bid on supplying the City of Redding with this hazardous chemical. Material specification sheets from LCI also confirm that it contains heavy metals such as lead and arsenic. Furthermore, the City of Redding Water Department confirmed this statement was true. |
| Factual information presented to the public in a paid political advertisement should not be censored. Since when did the Record Searchlight become sensitive to inflammatory ads? It is hypocritical, to say the least, that the Record Searchlight would do such a thing. After all, a few years ago, the Searchlight printed a full page ad from Eternal Gospel Church of Seventh-Day Adventists, a Seventh-Day Adventist "hate group" in their December 22, 1999 paper (page D-8). This full page ad denounced Catholics and Protestants for worshipping on Sunday, likening them to Satanists and pagans. (Incidently, the Searchlight printed another story several months later that verified the ad was from a "hate group" in the March 14, 2000 issue (page A-5). The headline to that story was "Church sues over 'Adventist' name.") The Record Searchlight should explain to the citizens of Redding why they are willing to accept and print a full page ad from a "hate group," yet will turn around and refuse to print one line of factual information taken from the City of Redding Fluoridation Feasibility Study on the grounds that it is inflammatory. |
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