Newspaper Chain Astroturfs Its ‘Right-Wing’ Editorials (Plus Assassination Ad) - RawStory

[WillyT]

Newspaper chain astroturfs its ‘right-wing’ editorials
By Muriel Kane
Thursday, April 8th, 2010 -- 2:03 pm

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When you read an editorial in your local newspaper, your natural assumption is that it expresses the views of that paper's staff and reflects local concerns. This, however, does not appear to be the case with the many small-town papers owned by Ogden Newspapers, Inc.

On March 31, an editorial headed "ACORN can't distract public from the truth" appeared in the Fairmont Sentinel, published in Fairmont, MN. It was bylined by Gary Andersen and Lee Smith, the paper's publisher and editor, and it slammed ACORN as a "front for liberal politicians" that has been involved in "illegal actions."

That original publication seems legitimate enough. But over the next few days, the same editorial started popping up elsewhere, with no byline and under a variety of headings. On April 3, for example, it appeared in the Minot Daily News of Minot, ND under the heading, "Good riddance to ACORN."

On April 5, it was in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette of Williamsport, PA, headed "ACORN victim of its own transgressions."

These papers have one thing in common. They are all owned by Ogden Newspapers of Wheeling, WV.

The McCain endorsement

This is not the first time that Ogden has been accused of this kind of activity. In October 2008, for example, a blog sponsored by North Country Public Radio in Canton, NY reported, "The Adirondack Daily Enterprise, based in Saranac Lake, faces a controversy over Friday's endorsement of presidential candidate John McCain. ... The endorsement wasn't actually written locally. It was produced by a writer in West Virginia at Ogden Newspapers, Inc., the Enterprise's corporate headquarters. And yet the editorial includes this statement: 'e urge residents of our area to cast their ballots for John McCain, the leader Americans need.'"

"The Enterprise isn't alone," the entry concluded. "A nearly identical McCain endorsement, also penned in West Virginia, ran in the Gloversville Leader-Herald, also owned by the Odgen chain."

A comment left on this entry added an additional example:

"Ogden Newspapers did the same thing 4 years ago and required the Enterprise to endorse George Bush. The Enterprise at that particular time, and I believe still today, had made a very clear policy that they only do editorials and political endorsements on local and regional issues and politicians. ... Peter Crowley who was also the editor at that time called me to let me know that it wasn't their choice to run the endorsement but it was what they were told to do by their parent company. ... Ogden is notoriously ultra-conservative and so the McCain endorsement (and Bush endorsement 4 years ago) by the West Virginia home office should be no surprise."

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And from the end of the article:

The assassination threat

Last May, the chain was involved in a controversy of a different kind, when the Warren Times-Observer published an apparent assassination threat in the form of a classified ad reading, "May Obama follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy!"

The paper quickly apologized and pulled the ad, saying that it hadn't been recognized as a call for assassination because "the ad representative didn't make the connection among the four other presidents mentioned."

More: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0408/newspaper-chain-astroturfs-editorials/

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