Clear Channel Corp. protested over ADL promotion

Published: Sunday May 22, 2011

Like many others, I am profoundly disappointed that Clear Channel Corp. is providing the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) with 100 free billboards across Massachusetts to promote the group's so-called anti-bullying program.

The national ADL still refuses to unambiguously recognize the ongoing Armenian Genocide. Disgracefully, the only Congressional resolution on genocide that the ADL lobbies against is the one on the Armenian Genocide.

Having lost its moral compass and acting like a political organization, the ADL clearly does not have the credibility to educate our children on human rights, social justice, or anti-bullying.

This is why the Massachusetts Municipal Association and over a dozen cities and towns statewide have severed ties with the ADL's "No Place for Hate" program. This is why thousands of concerned citizens nationwide, including principled Jewish Americans, continue to urge the national ADL to end its hate speech against Armenians and return to its noble mission (www.NoPlaceForDenial.com).

And this is why I respectfully ask you to join me in demanding that Clear Channel - via phone at 781-438-8880 or email at MarkPMays@clearchannel.com (Chairman), StephenRoss@clearchannel.com (President, Boston Division), CammyJones@clearchannel.com (Director of Communications), and LisaCDollinger@clearchannel.com (Chief Communications Officer) - do the right thing: (1) replace the ADL's name, logo and website on its billboards with those of credible anti-bullying organizations, (2) adhere to Clear Channel's own Code of Business Conduct and Ethics by refusing to provide services to politicized organizations like the ADL, and (3) donate billboard space to organizations commemorating the Armenian Genocide in the coming years.

As Martin Luther King said half a century ago, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Luder Tavit Sahagian
Needham, MA