NBC, CBS Reject Ground Zero Mosque Ad

CBS and NBC have declined to air an ad from a conservative group protesting the building of a mosque near the site of the World Trade Center attacks, Politico reports. The ad, sponsored by the National Republican Trust PAC, shows a montage of 9/11 horrors amid Muslims praying. "On September 11, they declared war against us," says the narrator. "And to celebrate that murder of 3,000 Americans, they want to build a monstrous 13-story mosque at Ground Zero."

NBC would have accepted an ad critical of the mosque, but this one crossed the line because of the word "they," said a network official. It's "unclear as to whether the reference is to terrorists or to the Islamic religious organization that is sponsoring the building of the mosque. Consequently, the ad is not acceptable under our guidelines for broadcast." (More Ground Zero stories.)