"Each year, more than 26 million people visit the 10-block area where Seventh Avenue meets Broadway. Massive neon light displays illuminate the night sky, giant billboards trumpet Broadway shows, an electronic ticker beams the latest news and stock quotes and some 50 "supersigns" display ads for fashion, liquor and other corporate products.Media giant Clear Channel controls about one-half of these billboards. It is now refusing to put up one organization's billboard, with which it had a signed contract. The sign showed a picture of a bomb with lighted fuse decorated in Stars and Stripes. The caption underneath reads "Democracy is best taught by example, not by war." The billboard was to be mounted on the facade of the Marriott Marquis Hotel."
"Clear Channel's corporate leadership has a history of political activism on behalf of Republicans. Tom Hicks, a major shareholder and former member of the company's board, purchased the Texas Rangers from George W. Bush in 1998 and contributed to his campaigns. Company employees have given $382,000 to Republicans in the current election cycle. This according to the Center for Responsive Politics.The company has previously been accused of using its media outlets to assist the GOP. Some company radio stations banned the Dixie Chicks from their programming after the group's lead singer, Natalie Maines, criticized Bush. Shock-jock Howard Stern accused Clear Channel of dropping his show in retaliation for anti-Bush rhetoric."
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