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BuzzFeed Ends $1.3M Advertising Deal With RNC Over Donald Trump (cnn.com) 403

An anonymous reader writes: In response to Donald Trump's rhetoric, the "social news and entertainment company" BuzzFeed has decided to terminate an advertising deal with the Republican National Committee. The deal was for $1.3 million, a source close to BuzzFeed told POLITICO. The source said the reason was because of the website's employees. "[BuzzFeed could not countenance] having employees make ads, or working at the company and having our site promoting things, that limit our freedom and make it harder for them to live their lives," they said. The source said in response to whether or not BuzzFeed would rule out any Trump advertising: "In general, we have taken the position that we won't take ads for his presidential campaign." In a CNN article, RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer says, "Space was reserved on many platforms, but we never intended to use BuzzFeed." He added, "It is ironic that they have not ruled out taking money from a candidate currently under investigation by the FBI." The agreement between the RNC and BuzzFeed called for the GOP to "spend a significant amount on political advertisements slated to run during the fall election cycle," BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti wrote in an internal memo.
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BuzzFeed Ends $1.3M Advertising Deal With RNC Over Donald Trump

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  • I'll say here what I said elsewhere: I'm sure Donald Trump is all torn up about losing access to advertising to all those people who don't vote anyway.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @05:00PM (#52262683) Homepage Journal

      Assuming Buzzfeed readers don't vote is why the GOP keeps losing.

    • by ganjadude ( 952775 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @05:02PM (#52262699) Homepage
      i mean, do these people really not understand these kinds of things are pushing more and more people to trump? i dont like him, i think he will be about as bad as obama and bush (no worse, no less)....but everyone that hates him, i hate, and their tantrums are pushing me more and more to vote trump. And I know im not the only one in this boat.
      • by amicusNYCL ( 1538833 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @05:17PM (#52262799)

        Why do you want to vote for him? He's unrepentantly racist, why do you want a guy like that leading the country? He doesn't let any perceived insult go unanswered, you really want a guy like that in control of the most powerful military on the planet? We don't need a would-be strongman trying to run the country like Putin runs Russia. Trump's word doesn't mean anything, he'll say something one day on video and the next day he'll say he never said that. He's a sociopath who will say anything to win or escape that particular moment, with no thought to tomorrow. And casting your vote for him just because there are so many people who hate him is probably the worst reason to vote for someone that I've heard so far. "A strong majority in the country doesn't like that guy? That's my candidate!" How about looking to the smaller parties to find someone who actually represents what you believe instead of some stupid troll protest vote?

        • by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 06, 2016 @05:21PM (#52262831)

          Because the alternatives are green, libertarian or so fucking crooked she really believes she's above the law.

          • There are no fewer than 17 other political parties with restricted ballot access. Maybe that's the real problem.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward

          In what way is it racist to call out people who say they want to kill you?
          As far as the traditional minority groups are concerned as far as I can tell Trumps companies hire African-Americans and Latinos in larger percentages than most other U.S. companies. It is well known that Trump has hired more women for executive positions than your standard Tech company. So in what way is Trump racists. (By the way being Muslim is not a race.)

          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            by amicusNYCL ( 1538833 )

            In what way is it racist to call out people who say they want to kill you?

            It's not. I don't think I said "Donald Trump is racist because he calls out people who say they want to kill him", but I'll go ahead and re-read what I wrote just to make sure.

            OK, I re-read it, and sure enough, I didn't say that. So I'm not sure why you're asking me. Maybe you replied to the wrong person.

            So in what way is Trump racists.

            Other than that time when David Duke endorsed Trump, and Trump said he didn't know enough about the KKK to say that he didn't want to be endorsed by them? How about the time when the justice department

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by harrkev ( 623093 )

          He's unrepentantly racist

          Hmmm. That's funny. I never knew that "illegal" and "Muslim" were races.

          • by danlip ( 737336 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @05:49PM (#52263015)

            He just said that a judge, who is a natural born US citizen, cannot be impartial in the suit against Trump because of his ethnicity. That's racist.

            • by Bartles ( 1198017 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @06:02PM (#52263085)

              Black people say white juries, cops, and judges, can't be impartial all the time. I don't see any inconsistency here.

              • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @06:27PM (#52263219)

                Black people say white juries, cops, and judges, can't be impartial all the time. I don't see any inconsistency here.

                How many of those black people are running for President of the United States?

          • Trump has a history, he isn't a tabula rasa who never heard of David Duke or the KKK:

            http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-and-the-ku-klux-klan-a-history [newyorker.com]

            For example ...

            It should be noted that Trump’s unfamiliarity with Duke is a recent condition. In 2000, Trump issued a statement that he was no longer considering a run for President with the backing of the Reform Party, partly because it “now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke.”

            Throughout last fall and into the winter, T

            • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

              by harrkev ( 623093 )

              Well, at least we KNOW that Hillary has heard of the KKK, since she is good friends with a former KKK member.

              Former Senator Byrd was actually a KKK member, and very cozy with the Clintons -- close enough to give Hillary a big smooch.

              http://www.snopes.com/clinton-... [snopes.com]

              • 50-60 years ago (Score:5, Informative)

                by aepervius ( 535155 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @10:18PM (#52264393)
                He was a FORMER member of KK and profusely apologized for it. Read your own link !

                It's also true that Robert Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s and helped establish the hate group's chapter in Sophia, West Virginia. However, in 1952 Byrd avowed that "After about a year, I became disinterested [in the KKK], quit paying my dues, and dropped my membership in the organization," and throughout his long political career (he served for 57 years in the United States Congress) he repeatedly apologized for his involvement with the KKK

                Only people which are extreme right wing and disinterested into fact would use that photo and "kiss" against Clinton or Byrd. I am sorry but everybody makes error while young, and since he apologized along his long carrier of 50+year , I am seeing painting him as having KKK tie as either chicaneries or plain old lies. Either way it does not paint a good picture about people which uses this against Clinton. Disclaimer : I do not like Clinton I just don't like fact distortion.

              • by T.E.D. ( 34228 )

                2 Things here: 1) Byrd died a decade ago. Unless she carries a Ouija board around with her, she hasn't been friends with him in quite a while. 2) He renounced that membership long before he died or before Hillary ever met him, and was (mostly) not a supporter of White Supremacy in Congress.

                People do grow and change their minds. Hillary once supported Goldwater. Ronald Regan was a New Deal Democrat. Republicans used to be the party of Liberals and Democrats used to be the party of Conservatives. If you want

          • When you're referencing all Mexicans and call them murderers and rapists and some, you assume, are good people... You're a racist.

            When you use the possessive to refer to African Americans... OK, then you're probably just ignorant.

            When you call out Hiliary over Bill's infidelity yet the woman you're having an affair with gets caught screwing someone else under a lifeguard tower... You're a hypocrite as well as a cuckhold.

            When you tell everyone how successful a businessman you are, having vastly lost money co

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Moridineas ( 213502 )

          Scott Adams has an interesting take on things.

          http://blog.dilbert.com/post/145309172876/the-risks-of-a-trump-presidency [dilbert.com]

          My only question is---if Trump is so racist, sexist, and prone to violent reactions--why hasn't that popped up in his past? Discrimination lawsuits? Sexual harassment cases? Workplace violence or intimidation? Anything like that? I mean everything that comes out about him basically makes him seem like a mild-mannered Steve Jobs or Zuckerberg... As far a celebrity children, his don't seem pa

          • by Bartles ( 1198017 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @06:01PM (#52263079)

            You don't get it. The Republican is always conveniently unabashedly racist. As long as that is the case, it is not necessary to argue substance or look at the faults of any of the other candidates. Also, if the guy you oppose is racist, it automatically makes you morally superior and just a good all around person. No need to use reason or actually objectively look at the candidates.

          • Scott Adams' apologia for Trump is reminiscent of what was said about Germany in the run-up to WWII.

            Trump also suggested creating a government list of which residents of the country are Muslim. That’s some scary shit. Until ... you realize the government already has that list. You know they do, right?

            Adams, whose cartoons seemed to find nuance in everything, ignores the nuances of the "Leader" of a country announcing that the government will now create a list of members of a specific religious group

          • 1. He's been sued twice by the Justice Department for not renting to black people.
            2. He was fined $200K because his Casino would regularly remove black casino dealers at the request of players
            3. He is quoted as saying the following: “And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.”
            4. He was the original birther.
            5. He defended his supporters attacking a protester: “Maybe [the protester] shou

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by taustin ( 171655 )

          Why do you want to vote for him? He's

          exactly like Hillary, and every other candidate, except for one thing: He's honest about it.

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by JediJorgie ( 700217 )

          Please share some of his racist comments... But please remember. "illegal Mexican immigrant" is not a race or ethnic group. Muslim is not a race or ethnic group.

          Disliking a subgroup within an ethnic group for the actions is not racist.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          Why do you want to vote for him? He's unrepentantly racist, why do you want a guy like that leading the country

          Way to prove the GP's point.

          Trump has said some stupid and insensitive shit, but can you point to something that was actually racist? Keep in mind that racism entails an overall declaration that some race is inherently better than some other race. Racism does not apply to nationality. Racism does not apply to religion. Racism does not apply to class. Has Trump actually said something truly racist, or did you just label him a racist because that's the go-to label for people you find disagreeable?

          To be clear,

          • by DRJlaw ( 946416 )

            To be clear, I don't support Trump, and there is no conceivable way I'll vote for him. His policies (for example, the trillions in debt his tax plan would incur even over Hillary's) are are idiotic, and I find his demagoguery to be repugnant, and a poor fit for the office. Equally repugnant, though, is when someone spews out a hackneyed "racist!" label because, y'know, reasons.

            I completely agree. I will now spew out a "jingoistic plutocrat" label because, y'know, reasons.

          • by wired_parrot ( 768394 ) on Tuesday June 07, 2016 @12:39PM (#52268585)

            Way to prove the GP's point.

            Trump has said some stupid and insensitive shit, but can you point to something that was actually racist?

            Trump said that a judge should be disqualified from a case solely based on his ethnicity. As Paul Ryan, GOP house leader, said on Trump's statements: "Saying that someone can't do their job because of their race is the textbook definition of racism."

            This isn't Democrats and liberals calling him a racist - top Republican leaders are now saying so as well.

        • by Okian Warrior ( 537106 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @06:44PM (#52263317) Homepage Journal

          Why do you want to vote for him?

          Because he has 7 clear positions with a plan to fix each, while Hillary has 31 nebulous "issues" and a vague attitude on each.

          In an attempt to learn about a non-hot-potato issue, I checked out Trump's position on tax reform.

          Basically, it says [donaldjtrump.com] any individual earning under $25,000 pays no tax, couples under $50,000 pay no tax, and it gets rid of the marriage penalty and the estate tax. It's also revenue neutral(*).

          That sounds pretty good to me: this would help out a lot of poor and underprivileged, and it would eliminate the huge chunk of bureaucratic effort low earners have to do each year. The amount of revenue from a poor person is negligible, so it makes sense not to expend the effort (on both sides) trying to collect it.

          I couldn't find anything in Clinton's issues specifically about tax reform (let me know if I missed it), but her "economy" issue mentions a couple of tax 'gimmes such as this one:

          Hillary will cut taxes for hard-working families to increase their take-home pay as they face rising costs from child care, health care, and sending their kids to college. She is calling for extending a tax cut of up to $2,500 per student to help deal with college costs as part of her New College Compact, and for cutting taxes for businesses that share profits with their employees.

          Her position is nebulous ("Hillary will cut taxes for hard-working families") and makes you feel like she's on your side without anything concrete. She's adding yet another rule to an overly-complicated tax code, and it only helps families with college-bound students.

          All her positions are like that: feel-good appeals to emotional problems, and a vague sense that she'll do something about it.

          Donald Trump has 7 positions listed, each of which are high priority problems that should be fixed such as the current backlog of Veterans benefits. Clinton has a looooong list of issues, such as campus sexual assault. I'm not entirely certain that campus sexual assault rises to the same level as tax reform or Veteran's benefits, but I'm pretty certain it should not be dealt with at the federal level. It's there for emotional impact.

          Trump notes 7 problems and has a plan to fix them.

          Clinton lists all the problems she can find, and asks "won't someone think of the $whatever-gets-me-the-vote"?

          (*) Whether you believe that it is actually revenue neutral makes no difference. You can always *make* it revenue neutral by adjusting the numbers as needed, and the government thinks nothing of going into debt by twice its revenue anyway, so they could make up the shortfall that way.

          (**) I had to correct myself from typing "Clinton has issues".

        • by blogagog ( 1223986 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @06:50PM (#52263349)
          Trump is so awful that the only person on the planet who would be a worse president is Hillary Clinton. Man, we sure know how to pick 'em.
        • you really want a guy like that in control of the most powerful military on the planet?

          The US Military doesn't just rush off to war because the president gives an order.

          We don't need a would-be strongman trying to run the country like Putin runs Russia.

          The US has balance of powers. No one person can take over the US like Putin has in Russia.

          Trump's word doesn't mean anything, he'll say something one day on video and the next day he'll say he never said that.

          That's true, so what does he stand for? If he doesn't know, you don't either.

          He's a sociopath who will say anything to win or escape that particular moment

          That hardly makes him unique in US politics does it?

    • What would be interesting is if Buzzfeed still carried ads for the DNC, and if someone could make a legal argument for if that's an illegal campaign contribution...

  • feeds a lot of buzzes
  • Free Advertising (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 06, 2016 @04:44PM (#52262601)

    Instead of taking the $1.3million they've just given Trump some great free advertising here.

    It's also interesting how the left are consistently against free speech, both as defined in the constitution and as a general principle. They only believe you should be permitted to say things that agree with their ideology, and will try to silence any descenting voices by using terms such as racist, xenophobic, bigoted and elitist.

    They left have become extremely fascist over the last few decades, yet they are unable to recognise this and continue to accuse people on the right of being fascist.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 06, 2016 @05:02PM (#52262695)

      A private company choosing not to run ads for a dull demagogue is not "against free speech" - it's that company practising its free speech right to say what it wants to say, and no more.

      You get authoritarian sorts at all points of the political spectrum, from those who have a problem with criticism of a particular race to those who have a problem with "anti-American" speech. The authoritarian will cry to government for protection from whatever it is he doesn't like, even if it's none of his business.

  • by Nikkos ( 544004 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @04:49PM (#52262627)

    I may be completely wrong, but I thought FEC rules were If they take ads for one candidate/party they have to allow the other candidate/party to advertise as well.

    • The new rule is, they CAN reject his advertising, but they have to bake him a cake that says "Make America Great Again."

      In all seriousness, I wonder about this too. I am not up on these rules.

    • by taustin ( 171655 )

      Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't discrimination based on political affiliation a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

      Or are they giving up ad money from all political parties?

    • by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 06, 2016 @06:03PM (#52263095)

      That's a common misconception. There USED TO BE an 'equal time' rule that applied to broadcast media. It was called the Fairness Doctrine, and it only governed TV and radio broadcasts. (so it never would have regulated something online) In essence, the rule said that if you let one guy talk on your program, you had to give the other guy the same amount of time to talk. Until recently, I thought it still existed, and there's certainly a public perception that this rule exists, but it actually ended in 1987 because of strong opposition by appointees of the Reagan administration. Here's a link with more info and a whole bunch of sources talking about the history of the rule and how it ended: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Equal-time+rule

    • It's an equal time rule:

      For instance, Saturday Night Live was theoretically obligated to offer opposing candidates a platform since the Donald hosted a show.

      Paid advertisements are another matter, not governed by the original rule.

    • I'm not seeing this here: http://www.fec.gov/pages/broch... [fec.gov]
      However, Buzzfeed is SAYING that the employees don't want the business but I doubt that every single one of them feels that way and they haven't documented that they do. I'd bet that there are employees who don't feel that way but feel that they can't speak their mind without fear of retribution. One could also argue that by not accepting ads for one party, they can't accept ad revenue for another. To do so would imply that they are endorsing one

  • by mccrew ( 62494 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @04:55PM (#52262665)
    RNC didn't want to advertise there anyway. They're low energy. Losers.
    • by Jawnn ( 445279 )

      RNC didn't want to advertise there anyway. They're low energy. Losers.

      ...and probably Mexican. They're Mexican, aren't they? Or Muslim?

      In all seriousness, I am enjoying the shit out of watching the clown car that was the republican field, now that Trump is behind the wheel with his foot mashing that gas pedal. The wreck is going to be of historic proportions.

      • by SuricouRaven ( 1897204 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @05:04PM (#52262709)

        But remember that about half of the voters in the US are going to vote Democrat no matter what, and about half will vote Republican no matter what. That means even the craziest candidate is still in with a shot at winning, simply because he'll have the might of a major political party behind him - and now the infighting is over everyone who supports the party can agree that having a Republican nutjob in office is still better than letting a Democrat win.

      • ...and probably Mexican. They're Mexican, aren't they?

        Well, if you burn USA flags . . . while waving Mexican flags at an anti-Trump protest . . . I don't think you are doing anything to help Hillary or Bernie.

        Totally the opposite . . . this just pours oil on the fire and fans the flames of Trump xenophobia.

  • what? (Score:2, Insightful)

    currently under investigation by the FBI

    What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"?

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by epyT-R ( 613989 )

      That's dead. Haven't you heard? The new way is "listen and believe."

    • Re:what? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ageoffri ( 723674 ) on Monday June 06, 2016 @05:20PM (#52262819)
      Nothing has happened to innocent until proven guilty. It is a factual statement that Hillary is under investigation by the FBI. Now if the RNC had said something like "under investigation by the FBI and will be found to have broken multiple laws" that would be another story. Just because you are innocent until proven guilty doesn't mean it isn't known that you are being investigated.
      • by epine ( 68316 )

        It is a factual statement that Hillary is under investigation by the FBI.

        Equally,

        It is a fat ass statement that Hillary is under investigation by the FBI.

        By the miracle of modern politics, sometimes factual == fat ass.

        I just picked up a copy of It's Even Worse Than It Looks this morning. You, sir, are the Elephant Man in the mirror, minus the redeeming character of your pachydermous patriarch.

    • by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      [FBI investigation] What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"?

      In politics it's "You wear it until you figure out how to out-spin the spinner".

      I bet there are a lot of "investigatable" issues in the federal government; it's just that they haven't come to light (yet). The email thing spawned out of the Benghazi investigation, which the GOP made sure was examined under a microscope. We'd perhaps never know about it if not discovered from that. After all, Colin Powell also allegedly "did it wrong", but if

  • I want to see Trump's long form Birth Certificate, because it's pretty clear he's an Oompa Loompa. It seems much more likely that he was born in Loompaland, not the USA.
    • Here you go [go.com]... Now I wonder if Hillary! will actually release the e-mails she claims are not work related - at least let someone from the FBI screen them to determine she has released everything...
    • I want to see Trump's long form Birth Certificate, because it's pretty clear he's an Oompa Loompa. It seems much more likely that he was born in Loompaland, not the USA.

      You can't be prez unless you're vetted out as a pure-blood lizardperson, and they don't have birth certificates. They get hatching certificates instead.

  • He could force any bakery to bake him a cake, right? The cognitive dissonance of the far left is amazing.

  • Is it one of those slideshow ad sites masquerading as news? Twice in the past week some obscure site gets attention by getting itself /.'ed.

  • The source said the reason was because of the website's employees. "[BuzzFeed could not countenance] having employees make ads, or working at the company and having our site promoting things, that limit our freedom and make it harder for them to live their lives,

    You mean like the freedom not to have to make cakes for people when it's against your moral beliefs to work on their behalf? Ok then.

    It' nice to know Buzzed will fold when the pressure gets high, lets see what other advertising we can remove from

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