By Crikey reporter Sophie Vorrath

Rupert Murdoch’s “fair and balanced” Fox television news empire has refused to run
a provocative ad promoting a Democratic candidate for Manhattan borough
president. The openly gay candidate Brian Ellner says the station won’t
run the 30-second spot because it takes a swipe at President Bush – it features
the president’s face superimposed upon a middle-aged man’s naked torso,
while Ellner says of the president that “the emperor has no clothes.”
At the end of the commercial, Ellner also introduces his partner, Simon
Holloway – a move he is calling a first in NY campaign commercial
history.

After initially refusing to offer any explanation for
why they vetoed the ad (when 14 other non-Fox associated local stations
were happy to run it), representatives of Fox’s New York Channel 5 told
Ellner they believed the advertisement was “disrespectful of the office
of the president,” reportsThe New York Times. But as the Times
cautiously points out, “if the station rejected the ad because of its
content, it would appear to be skirting the line of broadcast
regulations and communication law covering the showing of political
commercials by local stations.”