Alerts: Newspapers Refuse Paid Distribution of "Obsession" DVD

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CNN, Oct. 15: Muslim DVD rattles voters in key battleground states

Editor and Publisher, Oct. 3: Newspapers Continue to Get Hit for Carrying 'Terror' DVD

updated Oct. 15, 2008

CNN reports that Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, says the DVD is a foreign attempt to influence the presidential race. Larry Sabato, a political observer and director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, told CNN the DVD is targeted at voters in swing states to vote Republican.

updated Oct. 6, 2008

While some newspapers refused to distribute the DVD "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," The Oregonian did and said in an editorial it was done on the grounds of free speech. About 70 protestors demonstrated outside The Oregonian denouncing the decision.

Sept. 30, 2008

A DVD about Muslims entitled "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" was recently distributed in major U.S. newspapers as a paid advertising circular. Two newspapers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C., refused to distribute the DVD. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the DVD incites hatred and bigotry against Muslims.