By The Prowler on 9.14.07 @ 12:08AM
In the past such groups as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were turned down for special ad rates.
The New York Times in the past has rejected "advocacy"
ads from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, as well as from the
National Right to Life Committee, despite the fact that both would
have qualified for the same "special advocacy, stand by" rates that
the radical, left-wing organization MoveOn.org was given for its
smear ad of Gen. David Petraeus.
MoveOn, which is largely financed by billionaire George
Soros, as well as other major financial donors to the
Democratic National Committee, was given a $100,000 discount for
the ad which called the U.S. commander of armed forces in Iraq a
traitor. According to a MoveOn organizer in Washington, D.C., the
organization has raised more than twice that amount since the
full-page ad appeared in the Times earlier this week. "It
was a great fundraising opportunity for us." The source added that
the group was looking to perhaps turn the ad into a poster that
they could further fundraise off of.
The Times claimed that MoveOn was given no special
treatment, but several organizations that sought to place ads in a
similar manner in past years have been turned away or were told
that the ads were bumped for higher paying ads.
According to a former New York Times ad sales staffer,
a coalition of pro-life groups attempted to take out a full-page ad
in the Times during the Terri Schiavo
debate in Congress, but were turned away. "I think that such a
group would have qualified for our advocacy discount, but perhaps
the policies changed in the past couple of years," says the ad
rep.
Similarly, during the 2004 election season, a representative
from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth sought to place a full-page ad
in the paper, but was turned away.
The MoveOn staffer said that the organization was made aware of
the discount from a New York Times reporter based in New
York.
topics:
Iraq
