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NRATV is off the air.


mikew

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It's been mentioned, but it deserves its own topic.

 

It's off the air, Wayne wrote a letter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear NRA Members,

 

As many of you may know, we have been evaluating if our investment in NRATV is generating the benefits needed. This consideration included the return on investment and the cost and the direction of the content. Many members expressed concern about the messaging on NRATV becoming too far removed from our core mission: defending the Second Amendment.

 

So, after careful consideration, I am announcing that starting today, we are undergoing a significant change in our communications strategy. We are no longer airing live TV programming. Whether and when we return to live programming is a subject of ongoing analysis.

 

The NRA will continue and improve our service on social media channels and our flagship website, www.nra.org your trusted resource of information. Our many web sites will continue to showcase new and archived videos, as we reorganize much of this information in a way that better serves our key audiences.

 

What necessitated the change now is our conclusion that our longtime advertising firm and website vendor failed to deliver upon many contractual obligations it made to our Association. The NRA will always hold our vendors to high standards and ask that they maximize their value to the Association. No exceptions.

 

Looking ahead, you can expect great things from your NRA. We will energize our messaging strategy, become more cost efficient, and promote the NRAs singular focus like never before. Simply put, our messaging strategy will advance the NRAs core mission: to serve our members and fight for our Second Amendment.

 

Wayne

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In the NY Times today:

 

"The National Rifle Association has shut down production at NRATV.

The N.R.A. on Tuesday also severed all business with its estranged advertising firm, Ackerman McQueen, which operates NRATV, the N.R.A.’s live broadcasting media arm, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/us/nra-nratv-ackerman-mcqueen.html

"Ackerman, in its own statement, said it was “not surprised that the N.R.A. is unwilling to honor its agreement to end our contract and our long-standing relationship in an orderly and amicable manner.”

“When given the opportunity to do the right thing, the N.R.A. once again has taken action that we believe is intended to harm our company even at the expense of the N.R.A. itself,” the company added. It said it “will continue to fight against the N.R.A.’s repeated violations of its agreement with our company with every legal remedy available to us.”

The development is the latest in what has been a tumultuous year for the N.R.A. It has struggled to right its finances; faced investigations in Congress and by Letitia James, the New York attorney general; and witnessed a leadership struggle that pitted Oliver North, the N.R.A.’s former president, against Mr. LaPierre. Last week, The Times reported that the N.R.A. had suspended Christopher W. Cox, its longtime second-in-command, after a legal filing by the N.R.A. implicated him in a failed plot to oust Mr. LaPierre. Mr. Cox has strongly rejected such allegations.

N.R.A. officials had grown leery of the cost of creating so much live content for NRATV, which was started in 2016, and wondered whether it was worth the return on its investment. The site’s web traffic was minuscule, with 49,000 unique visitors in January, according to a report provided by Comscore.

Some N.R.A. board members and officials were also unnerved by the breadth of its content, which strayed far beyond gun rights and encompassed several right-wing talking points, including criticism of immigration and broadsides against the F.B.I. A show hosted by Ms. Loesch that put Ku Klux Klan hoods on talking trains from the popular children’s program “Thomas & Friends” drew outrage from some within the organization.

But the dispute between the N.R.A. and Ackerman goes deeper than NRATV. It has its origins in threats by Ms. James last summer to investigate the N.R.A.’s tax-exempt status. The N.R.A. began an audit of its contractors, and has said that Ackerman, which was paid roughly $40 million annually by the N.R.A., refused to comply. Ackerman has disputed that allegation."

The plot thickens as well as the drama. But it would seem that there will be lots of lawyers getting rich off of the donations to the NRA.

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Support as many as you can - they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Please do not abandon the NRA while it goes through this turmoil. The NRA is US, the members - some bad actors may have gotten in the way but they can be dealt with in due time.

Spot on.

 

 

 

Now, on the flip side, with NRATV out, does that free up more $$$$ for court cases??

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Support as many as you can - they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Please do not abandon the NRA while it goes through this turmoil. The NRA is US, the members - some bad actors may have gotten in the way but they can be dealt with in due time.

+1000

 

I am a member of a few national and some local organizations - they ALL have made some policy decisions/leadership issues with which I disagree. But they ALL are also working on my behalf in ways that I simply cannot - so I continue to support them all.

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Now, on the flip side, with NRATV out, does that free up more $$$$ for court cases??

No. Court cases fall under the ILA. Anything good the NRA did was really the ILA. With Chris Cox on "administrative leave" because Wayne said he was an "errant fiduciary" (wow, irony), I'd expect the ILA to do less, not more, as the ILA money starts getting used to upgrade the hot tubs or something in Wayne's corporate homes.

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^^^^

 

So which pro-gun organizations do you support? NRA has a lot of issues (and I knownyoure upset about NRATV taking sides with the right), but have you joined or supported any other groups that fight for 2A causes?

I personally will not support the NRA anymore based on their recent (last few years) political decisions. They are too big for their own good in my opinion. I support Firearms Policy Coalition/Foundation (FPC/FPF) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) currently. Others support the Second Amendment Foundation. If you use Amazon dot com then you can use Amazon Smile to donate 0.5% of your purchases to an organization of your choosing.

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I'm not about to abandon the NRA. However... no money until Wayne is cut off and gone.

 

Don't do to the NRA what some conservatives did to Rauner.

 

Agree. Rauner made some decisions I disagreed with, but I still supported him 100% in the General Election. The NRA (specially LaPierre) has made some bad decisions, but I still support them. I will always continue to be pro-NRA, even as I hope they can clean up the current mess.

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I also hope this frees up money that can be used for advocacy, but I also hope they can keep some of the NRA-TV personalities like Dana Loesch employed (as I understand it, the NRA-TV personalities were actually employed by Ackerman-McQueen, not the NRA).

 

The NRA has desperately needed a good cleanse for years. The whole deal with the USCCA a few years ago did not sit well with me, and now I wonder what the real story was with Yeti. I would be willing to bet that somebody didn’t get a kickback somewhere and had a tantrum and severed ties.

 

I am nervous about the NRA losing too many members during this transition phase. While the leadership is in shambles, the membership is ultimately what gives the organization its power. 5 million members, an average of over 11,000 per Congressional district, that can be informed and mobilized in a matter of minutes is still an invaluable advantage to the 2A fight.

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^^^^

Wayne’s actions brought the organization into his current state. He needs to go (but he won’t)

Anyone who is still a member, especially voting members, need to be active and get LaPierre and his cronies out. Just re-upping won't do it. In fact paying and being silent is just tacit approval of the NRA acting as his personal slush fund.

 

 

NRATV was just another money siphoning wing and they're killing it because they have been forced to cut ties with Ackmack.

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