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Ad Club Network, a web advertising agency, is doing its part to help both NATO and Milosevic. The War Party has just successfully completed a campaign to pressure Ad Club and their advertisers into pulling advertising from a major independent Yugoslav web site. The leading non-government source of war news and viewpoints in Yugoslavia, Beograd.com, has been informed Ad Club has terminated their contract for web advertising. What is so puzzling is the fact that, in the last seven weeks, Beograd.com has gone from 100,000 hits a week to several million per day. One would think this would bring more business, not less. But Ad Club says that they are just responding to pressure from their advertisers. "We initially received one complaint that they were carrying news that was anti-US," and that has multiplied into a campaign of calls complaining about them," said Rob Wolf, Business Development Manager for Ad Club. "We consider Beograd.com to be a good site, one that does not promote hate speech and is pretty fairly balanced. But we have to listen to our advertisers." Until the war began seven weeks ago, Beograd.com was a small Internet site promoting business and tourism in Yugoslavia. When the bombing started, they set up a war news page that has grown into a massive operation. They have provided up-to-the-minute news of NATO bombings, complete with sounds and pictures. When the power was cut in Belgrade, Beograd.com brought in a generator and kept reporting. They have been the first to report many stories which eventually made it into the mainstream media. In a recent story, Reuters called Beograd.com "the most comprehensive and up-to-the-minute Internet Web site on the war where anxious Yugoslavs, and the outside world, can find out when and where NATO bombs and missiles are landing, and which areas are affected by power cuts and other shortages." Many dissidents in Yugoslavia have said that Milosevic has used the excuse of NATO attacks to close down dissident and independent media. Since the attacks began, Milosevic has closed down several newspapers, as well as Radio B92 and TV station Studio B. Recently, the dissident group Free Serbia claimed that Milosevic was looking for a way to shut down independent Internet sites. But Branislav Andjelic , Webmaster for Beograd.com, says that is impossible. "One computer, one modem, one man, and a server anywhere in the world – it's hard to ban." But what NATO and Milosevic have been unable to do to Beograd.com, the spineless people at Ad Club may accomplish. Ad Club has served as the primary source of income for Beograd.com since before the war started, and their cancellation of Beograd's contract is devastating to the small business. It is clearly not their intent, but as with NATO, they must take responsibility for the effects of their actions. We at Antiwar.com urge all antiwar activists, organizations, and concerned citizens to register their complaints with Ad Club and their advertisers. Since they are clearly easily swayed by public pressure, we need to counter the actions of the War Lobby. Here is what you can do: Contact Ad Club Network. Here is contact information:
Contact Ad Club Advertisers:
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