Those insipid “Earth’s Final Warning” ads, submitted by the Sweetwater Seventh Day Adventists, have reappeared. Both the Buffalo News and the Austin American-Statesman recently ran the hate-filled ads attacking the Catholic Church as the “Whore of Babylon.” Our complaint with the former newspaper was well received—we got a pledge that it will not run the ads again. But the latter newspaper gave us a free speech argument, as if that were the issue (no newspaper is ever obliged to print any ad, letter or article submitted for publication; that’s why they have editors).
So why not write to George Gutierrez, Vice President of Advertising, Austin American-Statesman, 305 South Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78704, and ask him just how far his free speech instincts will carry him. Would he accept an ad that denied the Holocaust? Or one sent by the Klan?
