Advertising Age reports on the denouement of last week’s controversy over the discount rate that MoveOn.org got from the New York Times. It turns out the Giuliani campaign got the same discount; the confusion seems to have started because the “standby” rate isn’t on the NYT‘s official rate card. But there’s still a missing piece: Why could both MoveOn and Giuliani get the standby rate so easily, when the Swift Boat Vets and NRLC couldn’t get an ad printed at all? My guess is that Don Surber is on to something: The Times, with its decling circulation and stock price, is desperate for ad revenue, and no longer has the luxury of turning away advocacy ads in favor of better-paying customers.
