toyota

It's pledge time at many noncommercial, listener and viewer-supported television and radio stations and you may already be feeling irritated by the persistent pleading from your favorite public radio or TV host. But before you switch the dial, before you touch that remote, remember. All that guff you're hearing about the importance of public service reporting that's insulated from the influence of corporate advertisers? It's not guff -- as ABC TV affiliates in five southeast states have just found out. Advertisers punish and Toyota apparently did just that, by pulling advertising off scores of affiliates of ABC TV "as punishment" for ABC News reporting on Toyota's sticky pedals. Now Toyota is expected to add the 2010 Prius to its list of recalled vehicles. Will ABC News continue reporting? Probably. But will cash strapped local affiliates continue to run those stories? I wonder. While we find out, have you paid your pledge? -- Laura Flanders