Alas, Staples claims harmony with those douchebags at Sinclair
From Baltimore Sun
Staples softens stand on limiting Sinclair ads
Two days after Staples Inc. became the first company to say it was limiting advertising on Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. television stations because of customer complaints about one-sided news coverage, the office supply chain softened its stance yesterday. While still acknowledging e-mail complaints in part caused it to stop advertising on Sinclair's local programs, Staples issued a statement saying it "does not let political agendas drive our media-buying decisions."
In a phone interview last night, Staples spokesman Paul Capelli said the company issued the statement to clarify its position.
Capelli said he felt the company's position was inaccurately represented by Media Matters of America, a liberal organization leading a campaign against the Hunt Valley broadcaster, which owns or operates 62 stations.
Neither Media Matters nor Sinclair officials could be reached for comment.
The coalition's sharpest criticism has been directed at The Point, a commentary segment aired during local newscasts on Sinclair stations. In the segments, company Vice President Mark Hyman offers his viewpoint on certain issues.
It is part of the local programming Staples said it would not advertise on, beginning Monday. Media Matters said his commentaries should be balanced with liberal points of view.
Capelli said yesterday that numerous decisions affect media buys and that the customer e-mails were only a part of Staple's decision to pull its ads.
For competitive reasons, he declined to go into detail about other factors in dropping the ads. Capelli also wouldn't say exactly when Staples decided not to sponsor certain Sinclair programming - before or after the e-mail complaints.
"We're continually looking at ongoing media buys," Capelli said. "Where we appear in January is not where we're appearing in December."
Capelli declined to say if the Framingham, Mass., company would resume advertising on local Sinclair programming.
"It's an evolving process and not unusual to appear in certain media in one season and other media in another," he said.
Capelli said the No. 1 office supply company received e-mail from customers complaining about the decision after it received wide publicity this week. He said he didn't know if any shareholders or Sinclair executives complained. He also reiterated that Staples is continuing to advertise on national Sinclair programming.
