September 25, 2007

Remember the Moveon.org ad in the New York Times slandering General David Petraeus? The Times claimed the discount it gave on its ad rate was normal and denied it did so because the ad was in line with the newspaper’s editorial policy.

The newspaper’s public editor, Clark Hoyt, says not only did Move On get an ad rate it was not entitled to, but “the ad appears to fly in the face of an internal advertising acceptability manual that says ‘we do not accept opinion advertisements that are attacks of a personal nature.’ Hoyt added that the phrase “betray-us” was “a particularly low blow when aimed at a soldier.”

The Times claimed no special rates were given and that the rate Move On paid meant the ad would run when space was available. But the ad ran on September 10, the day the general testified before Congress on the Iraq war progress, a day when it would have had the maximum effect.

“We made a mistake,” said Catherine Mathis, who sold Move On the ad. No, she and the newspaper lied and heads should roll, but they probably won’t because liberals look out for each other. A Times spokesperson says the controversy will serve as evidence to conservatives of the newspaper’s liberal bias. Ya think?

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.