Liberal Bias Exposed

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times' ombudsman says the newspaper violated its standards when it gave the liberal activist group MoveOn.org a $77,508 price break on a full-page advertisement targeting Gen. David H. Petraeus. The organization paid $64,575, instead of the standard $142,083, for the ad questioning the war in Iraq, public editor Clark Hoyt wrote in a column published Sunday. Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis told Hoyt that an advertising sales representative shouldn't have agreed to the discounted price. "We made a mistake," she told Hoyt..

The ad also seemed to disregard internal advertising standards that ban ads involving attacks of a personal nature, Hoyt wrote. MoveOn.org said in a statement it would wire the difference in the ad rates to the Times. The ad's headline — "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" — questioned his honesty and said he was "constantly at war with the facts" in giving positive assessments of the war. "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," Hoyt wrote.

• JJ Commentary: This is just the tip of the iceberg in what the liberal-controlled media do behind the scenes to promote their beliefs at the expense of journalistic neutrality and integrity.