Political Football

Link from powerlineblog.com

Times Admits It Violated Policies in “Betray Us” Ad

This morning, Clark Hoyt, Public Editor of the New York Times, acknowledged that the paper had violated its own advertising policies by giving MoveOn.org a discounted rate for the ad that accused General Petraeus of being a traitor. Hoyt also said that in his judgment, the ad should not have been approved under the paper’s policy that states, “We do not accept opinion advertisements that are attacks of a personal nature.”

I think it is a reasonable inference that someone in the Times’ advertising department collaborated with MoveOn.org to get the ad into the paper on the critical morning when General Petraeus’s testimony began, while charging the group the paper’s discounted “standby” rate, because the Times employee shared MoveOn’s desire to smear Petraeus. It is revealing, too, that the Times employee who is charged with enforcing the policy against “attacks of a personal nature” didn’t see anything out of bounds about calling our commanding general in Iraq a traitor. Hoyt was a little more sensitive on this point:

Were I in Jespersen’s shoes, I’d have demanded changes to eliminate “Betray Us,” a particularly low blow when aimed at a soldier.

Low blow, indeed.

It seems reasonable to conclude that the Times’ collaboration with MoveOn in disseminating the attack on General Petraeus was a natural consequence of the paper’s pervasive left-wing and anti-military culture.

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