Move On gets a "Family Discount"

[Seagoon]

Chalk this one up in the "is anyone at all surprised?" column:

TIMES GIVES LEFTIES A HEFTY DISCOUNT FOR 'BETRAY US' AD
By CHARLES HURT Bureau Chief

September 13, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - The New York Times dramatically slashed its normal rates for a full-page advertisement for MoveOn.org's ad questioning the integrity of Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Headlined "Cooking the Books for the White House," the ad which ran in Monday's Times says Petraeus is "a military man constantly at war with the facts" and concluded - even before he testified before Congress - that "General Petraeus is likely to become General Betray Us."

According to Abbe Serphos, director of public relations for the Times, "the open rate for an ad of that size and type is $181,692."

A spokesman for MoveOn.org confirmed to The Post that the liberal activist group had paid only $65,000 for the ad - a reduction of more than $116,000 from the stated rate.
...
Citing the shared liberal bent of the group and the Times, one Republican aide on Capitol Hill speculated that it was the "family discount."

"I'm surprised they had to pay anything at all for the ad," the GOP staffer said. "They could have just asked the editorial page to run it and it wouldn't have cost them a cent."

[Full Story Here: http://www.nypost.com/seven/09132007/news/nationalnews/times_gives_lefties_a_hefty_di.htm  ]

I for one wish we could simply switch over to the European system where nobody bothers to pretend that the news media is "objective" and everyone is quite open about which papers are affiliated with which party. No one for instance expects The Guardian to give "neutral" opinions about conservative politicians or movements and they generally have the good taste not to pretend that is what they are doing. What would be the problem with a news outlet simply owning up and saying "We shill for Hillary" or "The fact that Tony Snow worked here is not a coincidence?" rather than having editorial bias be the worst kept secret in history.

[JBA]

I now hear other companies wanting to run ads, are asking if they put in a political opinion will they also get the discount.

[lazs2]

well... I would not be surprised if the times simply did it because of  the fact that all left wing ideals resonate with them but...

It could be innocent... after all... no one reads the paper anymore... I bet they didn't have to kick many adds out to put that one in.... people aren't standing in line to buy newspaper adds these days..

wonder why..

lazs

[FBBone]

Rumor has it that Rudy G. wants to run a full page ad at the same rate.  Wonder if they'll oblige his request (he is quite the lefty for someone with a "R" after his name).

[AKIron]

I'm trying to be surprised, ugh, just... can't... make... it....