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Community Network Likens Commissioners To Dictators In TV Ad

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By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2007

TAMPA - What do Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro and four current Hillsborough County commissioners have in common?

Their likenesses all appear in an ad the Tampa Bay Community Network plans to air this weekend to raise money for a legal fund.

The network is suing Hillsborough County over its decision to cut $355,000 for the station from this year's budget.

TBCN has prepared at least three fundraising ads for the court fight. The most hard-hitting is an ad that opens with images of Hitler, Stalin and Castro and fades to pictures of the four county commissioners who voted to kill the station's stipend.

'All of these dictators have one thing in common,' a narrator says as the ad opens with a photo of Hitler giving a speech. 'They all knew that if they controlled the media, they would control the masses.

'It worked.'

The ad fades to black before showing pictures of chairman Jim Norman, vice chairman Ken Hagan and commissioners Brian Blair and Al Higginbotham.

'Let's not let it happen again,' the narrator's voice says.

The 31-second ad ends with a graphic that tells residents where to send their checks - to the TBCN station near the University of Tampa campus.

'I guess that's the first time I've ever heard of a Republican controlling the media,' Hagan said.

Blair, another target, added, 'There's thousands of media outlets - it's not like free speech is gone from America.'

Both commissioners said they chose spending on public safety and essential services over giving money to the public access network. 'We had to make the tough choices,' Blair said.

Louise Thompson, TBCN's executive director, said the ad isn't directly comparing the commissioners to the three dictators; it just makes the point that their regimes thrived when public discourse was stifled.

'I think it's hard-hitting, and it sends the message that we need to make sure we keep the public's voice open,' Thompson said.

The county's decision not to give the station any money has forced TBCN to deny access to its studios to residents of unincorporated areas, Thompson said. The station still allows Tampa residents to record shows because the city did not cut its financial support.

The network, also known as Speak Up Tampa Bay, has sued Hillsborough County in federal court, alleging that the decision to cut funding was aimed at cutting free speech from a channel it couldn't control.

The suit points out that county commissioners didn't eliminate all spending to two other stations, The Education Channel and HTV22, which airs government programming.

A judge ruled against the station this month when it requested an emergency injunction to reinstate the funding. The station has appealed.

The ad will begin airing Saturday on TBCN's channels, which vary depending on the cable provider.

Reporter Anthony McCartney can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or amccartney@tampatrib.com.

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