The National Press Club has known as on The CW‘s new proprietor, Nexstar, to “explain why they have partnered with the murderers of a journalist,” by allying with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
Nexstar introduced on Thursday that it had inked a multi-year settlement for The CW to change into LIV’s U.S. broadcast tv and streaming residence. As a part of the deal, The CW will air 14 world LIV Golf League dwell occasions in 2023; weekend tourneys will air Saturdays and Sundays on The CW, and Fridays on The CW app.
“Our new partnership between The CW and LIV Golf will deliver a whole new audience and add to the growing worldwide excitement for the league,” CW president Dennis Miller stated in a press release. “With CW’s broadcasts and streams, more fans across the country and around the globe can partake in the LIV Golf energy and view its innovative competition that has reimagined the sport.”
But it’s simply that kind of image-building for LIV Golf, which is financed by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, that the National Press Club — a worldwide skilled group for journalists — takes umbrage with, citing Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi’s 2018 assassination on the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by brokers of the Saudi authorities, allegedly below orders from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“We are deeply disappointed that a company that makes money from news like Nexstar would agree to participate in such a shameful PR stunt as LIV Golf, which is fundamentally designed to rehabilitate the Saudi reputation, tarnished irreparably by the state-ordered gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018,” says the assertion from the National Press Club. “We are left to surprise what if something Nexstar stands for. You can’t have a model in information and act this fashion. Saudi Arabia murdered a Washington Post journalist and lower him up with a bone noticed.
“Riyadh wants to use golf to get Americans to forget about murder. We must not let them get away with it,” the assertion continues. “We call on Nexstar employees — many of whom are journalists — to demand management explain why they have partnered with the murderers of a journalist. We urge Nexstar to do the right thing and cancel their bloody golf show. And if they don’t drop the program here is what we can do: don’t watch it; and write each sponsor asking them not to sponsor.”
TVLine has reached out to each Nexstar and The CW for remark.
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