14 September 2007

Moving On.

The New York Times is getting grief because it charged MoveOn.org a discounted rate for its notorious "General Betray-Us" full-page ad. Rudy Giuliani demanded the same rate for a similarly sized ad supporting Gen. Petraeus, and the Times now states that any "advocacy" group will pay the same price. If the paper made an exception to MoveOn in the first place, then it deserves the criticism, because that would be proof of bias. If they've offered the lower rate for "advocacy" all along, they also deserve criticism. At the newspaper office where I work, we charge political advertisers more than the normal rate. Even with that being the case, MoveOn would find it far less expensive to place a full page with us than with the Times, even at the drastic discount. On the other hand, my employers give a discount to not-for-profits and charity groups. Maybe the Times blurs the distinction between advocacy and charity, as some people very well might.

1 comment:

hobbyfan said...

What I'd like to know is who the jackass is who founded MoveOn.org in the first place. Maybe this weasel works for the "Gray Lady", if you stop and think about it for a second. MoveOn would be insulted by the ad rates charged by a smaller newspaper such as our hometown paper, I think, and I haven't seen them buy ad space in Hearst-controlled Times-Union, either. It isn't political advocacy, IMPO. It's just a mean-spirited smear campaign, just like Swift Boat vs. John Kerry 3 years ago, and as such, any normal newspaper wouldn't offer discounts to rabble-rousing groups like MoveOn.