New York Times Gives Moveon.org a Huge Discount to run"Betray us" Ad

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09132007/news/nationalnews/times_gives_lefties_a_hefty_di.htm

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.

A Post reporter who called the Times advertising department yesterday without identifying himself was quoted a price of $167,000 for a full-page black-and-white ad on a Monday.

Serphos declined to confirm the price and refused to offer any inkling for why the paper would give MoveOn.org such a discounted price.

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."

 

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200709/NAT20070914b.html

Iraq War Backers Seek Same Ad Rate as MoveOn.org

By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor
September 14, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - GOP presidential frontrunner Rudy Giuliani and a group that supports the Bush administration's policy on the Iraq war announced on Thursday that they are asking the New York Times for the "same heavily discounted rate the newspaper gave MoveOn.org" when that group ran its "General Betray Us" ad on Monday.

Giuliani told reporters in Atlanta that he considered the liberal activist group's full-page advertisement -- "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" -- to be "abominable" and said his campaign is asking the newspaper for a comparable rate for an ad to run following President Bush's Thursday night speech on Iraq.

SNIP

Also on Thursday, Freedom's Watch - which ran a full-page ad in the Times on Sept. 11 calling for Congress to win the war - also said they were demanding the same rate and placement opportunity the newspaper gave the liberal group for an ad responding to the "General Betray Us" advertisement.

"It's outrageous that the New York Times would give a radical left-wing organization like MoveOn.org a discounted rate to publish an ad smearing the credibility of General Petraeus," said Bradley Blakeman, the group's president, in a news release.

"Freedom's Watch was not offered the same discounted rate to run an ad supporting our troops the very next day," Blakeman continued. "The New York Times owes us and its readers an explanation.

 

"Also on Thursday, Freedom's Watch - which ran a full-page ad in the Times on Sept. 11 calling for Congress to win the war - also said they were demanding the same rate and placement opportunity the newspaper gave the liberal group for an ad responding to the "General Betray Us" advertisement."





The Freedom Watch ad:

http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/freedwatchad.pdf