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By Accident on Purpose

NYT says, with MoveOn’s bargain basement “Betray Us” ad, it made a mistake. No full explanation, but a sober assessment of the available information would suggest that the dog ate NYT’s homework. Daily News: 

The old gray lady has some explaining to do.

Officials at the New York Times have admitted a liberal activist group was permitted to pay half the rate it should have for a provocative ad condemning U.S. Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.

The MoveOn ad, which cast Petraeus as “General Betray Us” and attacked his truthfulness, ran on the same day the commander made a highly anticipated appearance before Congress.

But since the liberal group paid the standby rate of $64,575 for the full-page ad, it should not have been guaranteed to run on Sept. 10, the day Petraeus warned Congress against a rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Times personnel said.

“We made a mistake,” Catherine Mathis, vice president of corporate communications for The Times, told the newspaper’s public editor.

Mathis said an advertising representative left the liberal group with the understanding that the ad would run that Monday even though they had been charged the standby rate.

The group should have paid $142,083 to ensure placement that day.

Via Instapundit, who notes, “This also leaves some of those who defended the Times’ discounted rate by claiming that the critics didn’t understand the ad business in an awkward position.” 

Good morning, Punditeers! Beautiful day for a Magnificent Failure. But here’s room for a win: the War of the Villages. As we mull the late great Marcel Marceau’s last words and his actions that were so much louder, we should not forgetthat  to this day, some people are OK with Hitler. Well yeah, Bashir and friends, but they’ve got other problems.

Topics: Iraq, media

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:22 am on Sunday, September 23, 2007

9 Responses to “By Accident on Purpose”

1. Banjo Says:
   September 23rd, 2007 at 10:28 am

   I wonder when the rest of the Sulzberger family is going to give Pinch the boot. Surely it must be clear even to them the degree to which the blood has thinned over the generations. Maybe a competent in-law can be tapped for the top job.

2. RebeccaH Says:
   September 23rd, 2007 at 11:28 am

   All concerned have shown their colors. Most especially in trying to claim that it was all “a mistake”.

3. tanstaafl Says:
   September 23rd, 2007 at 11:29 am

   The Times Ombudsperson explains the… miSTEAK…(it only took 2 weeks…)

   “Eli Pariser, the executive director of MoveOn.org, told me that his group called The Times on the Friday before Petraeus’s appearance on Capitol Hill and asked for a rush ad in Monday’s paper. He said The Times called back and “told us there was room Monday, and it would cost $65,000.” Pariser said there was no discussion about a standby rate.”

   http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/opinion/23pubed.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

4. Vanguard of the Commentariat Says:
   September 23rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm

   Sheesh, I bet even “The Nation” would’ve charged full rate for that ad, poor starving anarchists that they are. (That’s the outfit that runs cartoons characterizing the Secretary of State as a maid by the way, because “people of color” have absolute moral authority and all ).

   The march of the NYT towards Stalinism, in the disgusting tradition of Mr. Duranty, continues apace.

   And the “powerless little people” they relentlessly advocate for? Well several million of them starved to death in the Ukraine in the 30’s and millions more got butchered in Cambodia and…

   I honestly don’t know how you could work at the NYT and sleep at night.

5. Stop The ACLU » Blog Archive » New York Times Admits Discount Rate For Moveon.Org Says:
   September 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 pm

   [...] A mistake? Heh! Accidently on purpose! [...]

6. Moqtada al-Sadr Says:
   September 23rd, 2007 at 1:45 pm

   BAH!

   Witless Infidels! You are, evidently, too *stupid* to understand that when the Times makes a “mistake” and gives MoveOn a 55% discount for an attack ad its public editor says it should not have run at all (this according to its own internal acceptability standards), only those with ideological motives are rude enough to Question their Authority!

   The truly unbiased, on the otter heiny, rightly ridicule those who attempt to speak out, as is proper in a healthy democratic society.

7. Don Surber Says:
   September 23rd, 2007 at 2:18 pm

   Times blames the Betray Us ad on its critics

   Other members of the CITL2BTT include that trouble-maker Jules Crittenden and law prof Ann Althouse. CITL2BTT — it is the VRWC for the 21st century.

8. saltydog Says:
   September 23rd, 2007 at 4:40 pm

   I’m shocked, shocked that such a thing could happen.

9. tanstaafl Says:
   September 23rd, 2007 at 5:26 pm

   “,,,on the otter heiny”

   Thanks for that very useful expression, Mokie.

   (as for the rest of the writing, comme d’habitude, you sound in a very bad mood)

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