Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to Wrap Monday's Papers in "Vote for Freedom...Defeat Obama" Bags

[RamboLiberal]

And tomorrow my subscription will be cancelled when I can speak to a live person to tell them the reason why. And I am a gun owner. And BTW, this is not Scaife's rag - that paper I'd expect this. The PG endorsed Obama. But they also sent out the Obsession DVD - it's time they are sent a message.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to Wrap Monday's Papers in "Vote for Freedom...Defeat Obama" Bags

I know times are tough for the print media, but this is just sad and pathetic. Tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -- a newspaper which has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president -- will be delivered in a bag which has printed on it:

"Vote for Freedom...Defeat Obama"

Yes, they will literally wrap themselves in deceptive -- as if voting for Obama was voting against freedom and, of course, playing into the whole "communist/socialist" meme -- anti Obama speech.

It's a paid advertisement sponsored by the National Rifle Association.

-----

Call 412-263-1100

You can ask to leave a message on their Advertising Comment line.

More importantly, since it would seem that $$$ is all they're thinking about, you can choose to call that same number and suspend or cancel your subscription.

They have the right to take whatever filthy lucre they want and wrap themselves in anti Obama muck and you have the right to respond to their oh-so-wrongly calculated decision.

"David Shribman, executive editor, 412-263-1890

You all might want to do the same and if the voice mail is full, work your way down to these:
Susan Smith, managing editor, 412-263-1858
Mary Leonard, deputy managing editor, 412-263-0443 "

Use the ad bag for your scooped dog poop/used cat litter

http://2politicaljunkies.blogspot.com/

[Happyhippychick]

1. K&R - please put this on Facebook (I will too) and email to all you can.

Disgusting.

[RamboLiberal]

2. I don't do Facebook - but appreciate you doing.

Thanks for the K&R.

[ok_cpu]

3. Gatehouse Media Papers in Ohio endorsed Obama

At least the Massillon Independent and Canton Repository, but we stuffed our son's papers in the very same bags before he delivered them this morning.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4353883&mesg_id=4353883

Edited to add they also included the "Obsession" DVD a few weeks ago.

[RamboLiberal]

4. Curious if your son will lose any subscribers

I feel bad for the kid carriers if they do. PG is delivered by adults, many times seniors & others needing the extra $$$'s. I feel sorry for my carrier cause I finally got one who does a great job of wrapping the papers so they don't get soaked in the rain like the previous carriers. I was even going to make sure I tipped every 3 months in my payments, but I've had it with the PG doing this crap for extra revenue. I'm serious about canceling to send a message. I can get what little content of theirs I'm interested in online.

After Obama's inaugurated I may resubscribe just like I've decided I may watch ABC's This Week on occasion like this morning where I was curious about their predictions.

[One Voice]

5. Saw one...

I saw one taped to the back of a car yesterday, here in central IN.
He "had" to pass me you know....
Disgusting shit.

:crazy:

[Cha]

6. Rec'd! Thanks for the info..

let's hope people are smarter than these "bags" would suggest!

[summer borealis]

7. Piss on that rag forever now

What an awful move.

[williesgirl]

8. Don't flame me, but it's an Advertising product, not editorial. Anyone can buy the bag with any

message. Obviously, the paper can refuse the ad, but wouldn't ordinarily do that. The newsroom folks wouldn't even be aware it was happening unless someone from Advertising told them about it in advance. It goes from Advertising to Production/Circulation type personnel.

[RamboLiberal]

9. Two Newspapers in Virginia rejected it

At least two newspapers in Virginia -- The Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Virginian Pilot -- rejected this very same "Defeat Obama" bag.

What does The Virginian Pilot say about newspapers accepting ads like this? They say this about their decision to reject the ad:

The risk for a newspaper that runs the plastic bag ad, according to media ethicist Kelly McBride, is that it may give readers a reason to question its objectivity.

"If your wrap on Election Day is portraying one particular point of view, that's going to be pretty damaging to your credibility," said McBride, ethics group leader for the Poynter Institute, a school for professional journalists in St. Petersburg, Fla.

"I think it would be hard for voters, in that moment, to discern whether this is the paper's point of view or someone else's," she added. "You don't want to do something on Election Day that essentially alienates your readers."

Similar considerations factored into The Pilot's decision to reject the ad, said company business development manager Alan Levenstein.

Because it takes about six weeks to print the plastic bags, permitting a group with one view to purchase that space could deny a group with an opposing view a chance to buy the same space before the election, Levenstein said.

"We want to make sure that we provide equity for all sides, make sure that there is a level playing field," he said. "We want to make sure that we don't look, as a newspaper, that we're endorsing one viewpoint or another."

As a matter of policy, The Pilot would sell space to candidates and interest groups of all persuasions in its print pages, which unlike the plastic bags can accommodate multiple ads in one edition.

http://2politicaljunkies.blogspot.com/

Yay for them and piss on the PG - I'm with the Pilot - put the damn ad in the paper. I give their columnist Tony Norman kudos for writing in his own paper about DVD "Obsession" which the PG also distributed in its papers. He equated it the likes of sending out "Birth of a Nation". http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08274/916120-153.stm

[dkofos]

10. I see a decline in subscriptions in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's future.

[codjh9]

11. Jesus Christ! If I lived in Pittsburg I'd cancel that paper! n/t

[Duppers]

12. Please post this in GD-P too

thanks.

Recommended for sure.

[blue neen]

13. I just called and left a message...I will never buy that publication again.

I haven't had a subscription lately but did previously. We usually buy the Sunday papers, but I won't even buy that anymore.

We are gun owners in this home also and don't believe the NRA hype for one second. It's dirty, lowdown, and rotten, and the Post Gazette is actively participating in deceptive advertising.

They will never get another cent of mine.

Macy's is one of their major advertising clients. I think I will call them right now and cancel my credit card and tell Macy's exactly why.

[Duppers]

15. wow, you go girl! nt

nt

[Duppers]

14. I called the 412-263-1100 no. and held for an operator

I did not choose any of the options offered but held for the operator and gave her a message to pass up to her supervisor's supervisor.

When she heard what I had to say, she most kindly suggested that I could leave a comment on the comment line and transferred me to that line.

Of course I did leave a message and told them that people are canceling their subscriptions because of their decision to accept such asinine advertising as the 'hate Obama' bags.

That bag is not just a campaign advertisement.
To suggest that we'll lose our freedom if we vote for Obama is an out and out lie.

We cannot support businesses that lie.

[riverdeep]

16. It's one thing to run an ad in the paper itself,

putting this on the cover is really walking a tightrope of ethics. Saying one thing, doing another.

What this really shows, is the NRA needs to be challenged. There needs to be a progressive version of the NRA. Don't give me this crap about having no agenda other than guns. McCain supported the assault weapons ban, he supported putting locks on gun cabinets, he supported regulation of gun shows, and many other things that drive gun purists crazy.

[blue neen]

17. I just called Macy's and cancelled my account there and my husband's.

I told the young lady I was speaking to exactly why I was cancelling our cards. She was going to pass the word on to her supervisor.

Macy's is probably the Post Gazette's major source of advertising revenue. The PG needs to seriously reconsider what they are doing with these "Defeat Obama" bags.

I can't imagine that Dan Rooney (Steelers) is too happy about the PG right now. He's been out doing major campaigning for Obama.

[LiberalHeart]

18. How convenient. Something to puke in.

[SammyWinstonJack]

19. ...

:thumbsup:

[mike_c]

20. that'll be a collector's item-- get 'em now!

Not kidding.

[JDwho]

21. Everyone needs to call. Subscriber or not. K&R.

[babydollhead]

22. I called and emailed and canceled today's paper.

there it was like, like a turd, on my front stoop this morning. "Vote for Freedom. NRA. defeat Obama" still gagging.

[renate]

23. wow... they really did it. What a dumb move

They're going to get so much more negative publicity than the ad revenue could possibly be worth.

[Blue_Tires]

24. the NRA will soon go the way of the Christian Coalition and other hate organizations