Should the New York Times be shut down for violating F.E.C. regulations?

September 23, 2007


FOR nearly two weeks, The New York Times has been defending a political advertisement that critics say was an unfair shot at the American commander in Iraq.





But I think the ad violated The Times’s own written standards, and the paper now says that the advertiser got a price break it was not entitled to.





The American Conservative Union filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission against MoveOn.org and The New York Times Company.





http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/opinio...

Should the New York Times be shut down for violating F.E.C. regulations?
They should be rounded up and shot so that they can't blend into the civilian population.
Reply:I could see giving the responsible individuals prison time. Shutting them down might not be worth the bother considering the first amendment.
Reply:The sad thing about all this is that campaign finance "reform" is just a fraud to protect incumbents. Those regulations should be repealed. However, the NYT should be dealt with, as should Moveon.org, because the swiftest way to repeal a bad law is to enforce it without exception. Calvin Coolidge said something similar. Bush is such a failure, his Administration's appointees on the FEC will not likely do this. Just the same way that they have delivered the NLRB to the Democrats' friends - the unions.
Reply:Nay....they are slowing dying anyways. Its a slow painful death for them as they lose more and more readers. Of course should Hillary get in as President she most likely will make it the "official STATE Newspaper."
Reply:Say it isnt so... the liberal new york times pandering to a liberal lot like moveon.org.... if a conservative newspaper had done this, it would be headline news for days.....
Reply:my reading of this is that the ACU contends that the new york times gave an illegal contribution to moveon.org by giving them an advertiser-rate break.





this would not be an issue with you if the new york times gave the break to a conservative cause.





regardless, in a capitalist society a newspaper can charge whatever the hell it likes to advertisers.





the breadth of your politicizing is simply breathtaking.





you support government regulation, which is a thing in which your party opposes, when it serves your party's best interests.





i am so amazed by your doublethink i am giving you a star.
Reply:The paper needs to penalized for allowing a dispecile add to run for Moveon.Org. It wouldn't hurt becouse the paper has been losing readers and not to mention its circulations is dropping too. But to give a left wing partisian group a discount; they should be fined for a while.
Reply:Here's my opinion on the issue:





The ad... or rather just the word "Betray Us" was in really, really bad taste. If it was apolitician they were doing it to, that's fair game :) But this is a General, who is highly educated and skilled. No chump can become a 4 star General, and it shows a real lack of respect.





His report definitely did seem like it was written to please the White House, but I wouldn't twist the man's name as a cheap jab.





The NYT should just step up, and openly take responsibility or apologize or something. Charged need not be filed.





FYI, no organization would ever get shut down over something like this.
Reply:Great - let's have the government shut down publications it doesn't like. The American Conservative Union is kidding themselves if they think they will win any case. If you really want to restrict what a paper publishes and want to control their business dealings, you need to take that red bar off Che's face.
Reply:As much as I would like to see prison time for the Times we really do not have to worry about that. Their readership is DOWN and so are their stock prices. So I would have to say they are doing a bang up job to themselves.
Reply:Their stock is dropping like a rock, so their doing a great job





of shutting themselves down without outside help!