• by Wayne Friedman , December 11, 2007

After rejecting an ad last week from Freedom's Watch, a pro-Bush Administration political group, NBC reversed itself and began running the spot over the weekend.

The 30-second ad was a feel-good effort with a central theme: sending thanks to the U.S. troops in Iraq. The ad said it was paid by Freedom's Watch and listed its Web site.

NBC initially rejected the ad because the site listing would direct viewers to an Internet area that was overtly political. Although the commercial wasn't political or controversial, the conservative Web site could be construed as such by viewers.

NBC, and other networks, have had a longstanding policy of rejecting specific political TV commercials because they are considered advocacy advertising--messages that have a strong or controversial point of view.

Now, however, NBC has reversed its position. In a statement, NBC said: "We have reviewed and changed our ad standards guidelines and made the decision that our policy will apply to content only and not to a referenced Web site."

According to NBC, the Freedom's Watch ad began running on Sunday. According to the Associated Press, Alan Wurtzel, president of research and standards and practices of NBC Universal, notified the Freedom's Watch media consultant Saturday by e-mail, writing: "This will confirm that the Freedom's Watch spot is approved for air."

A Freedom's Watch spokesman said the group's initial media plan including airing the commercials on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, and Fox News. Now, all five networks are running the spot.