NYT apologizes for Moveon ad - fascist Senate resolution accomplishes mission.

[JackRiddler]

For those who make light of the Senate's apparently unprecedented resolution attacking the free speech of a U.S. citizens' group (which the resolution explicitly identified as "liberal" and "antiwar") --

For those who seek excuses because half the Democrats went along with this fascist distraction, and who say, oh, it doesn't have force of law, it's trivial, who cares --

-here we go: The chilling effect of the resolution is now obvious.

Note that the following coverage omits the resolution, although it and not the right-wing group's protest was obviously the key step in the chain of events leading up to the Times's apology.

http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2007/09/24/the-new-york-times-apologizes-for-moveon-org-ad

The New York Times Apologizes for MoveOn.org Ad
Submitted by Scott Goldberg on September 24, 2007 - 4:24am.

Clark Hoyt, public editor of the New York Times, wrote in a column yesterday that the newspaper made a mistake when it gave MoveOn.org, an organization dedicated to ending the Iraq war, a $77,508 discount on a full-page ad targeted against General David H. Petraeus. MoveOn paid $64,575 for an ad that typically costs $142,083.

General Petraeus had spoken before Congress and warned of the perils associated with a rapid withdrawal of forces from Iraq. MoveOn’s headline asked, “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?”

“The ad infuriated conservatives, dismayed many Democrats and ignited charges that the liberal Times aided its friends at MoveOn.org with a steep discount in the price paid to publish its message,” wrote Hoyt.

He went on to admit that his investigation into the special ad rate was requested by FreedomsWatch.org, a group advocating national defense, because it was not offered a similar discount.

The executive director of MoveOn.org, Eli Pariser, commented on the incident, saying his group had called three days before the ad’s placement and received the quote of $65,000. “We paid this rate before, so we recognized it,” he said.

Pariser also added, "While we believe that the $142,083 figure is above the market rate paid by most organizations, out of abundance of caution we have decided to pay that rate for this ad.''

http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2007/09/24/the-new-york-times-apologizes-for-moveon-org-ad