In an update on the furor over U.S. newspapers’ distribution of a virulently anti-Muslim DVD supplement, Anick Jesdanun of the Associated Press reports (10/4/08) that “the New York Times distributed it on the grounds that rejecting it would violate the sponsor’s right to free speech.” Left unexplored is corporate outlets like the Times‘ history of notoriously feckless attitudes toward the ethics of advertising. At least one reader quoted by Jesdanun is having none of these mealy-mouthed excuses:
I cannot believe that I was sent the hate-inflaming, fear-mongering video disk Obsession in my newspaper! What will you enclose next? KKK robes? It’s all frightening images of 9/11, scenes of thousands of Muslims juxtaposed with Nazis, more 9/11, more Muslims, more Nazis–everything calculated to invoke fear and stop thinking. And to destroy Christians’ and Jews’ respect and relationships with Muslims.
And did you notice that it was marketed through newspapers in swing states for the upcoming presidential election? The film claims to be about propaganda, but it is propaganda. Well, this is one middle-aged, white, Jewish, working person who won’t subscribe to that.
See FAIR’s magazine Extra!: Judgment Reserved to Judgment Reversed: Swift Boat, NARAL Ads Show Media Double Standard (11-12/05) by Julie Hollar
