RICHMOND
The National Rifle Association hopes to deliver anti-Barack Obama advertising blasts to thousands of doorsteps on Election Day.
The Fairfax-based gun lobby has contacted newspapers in Virginia and other battleground states about wrapping their home-delivered products on Nov. 4 in a plastic bag that is said to read: "Vote for Freedom... Defeat Obama."
That ad proposal was rejected by The Virginian-Pilot.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch leaders initially told employees that the paper intended to accept the ads, according to sources in the company.
But when contacted about it this week, the newspaper's strategic marketing director, Frazier Millner, said the Richmond newspaper "will not run the ad... for the NRA on Election Day or any other day."
NRA spokeswoman Rachel Parsons declined to discuss the plastic bags or media strategies other than to say the group uses "innovative means of getting our message out, in addition to traditional TV, radio and print ads."
"Those things will be visible in the coming weeks," Parsons said.
The NRA has endorsed Republican presidential nominee John McCain, and the group's political action committee has established the www.gunbanobama.com Web site, which say s Obama, a Democrat, "would be the most anti-gun president in American history."
This season, the group has sponsored print and video advertisements opposing Obama; anti-Obama independent expenditures by the NRA this cycle total $1.8 million, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
The Obama campaign describes NRA claims as false attacks that distort the Illinois senator's record as a supporter of Second Amendment rights.
Although the plastic sleeves are a somewhat unorthodox vehicle for political ads, this would not be the first time the NRA has used that tactic.
A similar technique was used by the gun lobby in Montana in 2006 to support a Republican seeking re-election to the U.S. Senate.
That year, The Associated Press reported, seven or eight Montana newspapers were draped in plastic covers expressing support for Sen. Conrad Burns in the days leading up to an election he ultimately lost.
The current plastic bag campaign is something of a departure for the NRA, which more often targets gun-owning voters with its political messages, said Brigham Young University political science professor Quin Monson.
"In the past, the NRA has been particularly effective about mobilizing their members and like-minded individuals," said Monson, assistant director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at the Utah school. "What they risk here is motivating someone who is for gun control to get out and vote for Obama."
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.
The NRA is hardly alone in the effort to deliver partisan messages to the voting public.
Scores of lobbying and issue-advocacy groups from across the political spectrum have spent advertising dollars to influence the outcome on Nov. 4.
"A lot of groups make ads," noted Jacob Neiheisel, deputy director of the Wisconsin Advertising Project, a nonpartisan academic research group based at the University of Wisconsin that tracks televised political ads.
In this cycle, ads from outside groups "have been relatively quiet," partly because of the cost to broadcast them, said Neiheisel, which may be one reason that special interests such as the NRA are "focusing on the ground war, where they can get a little more targeting."
Staff writer Warren Fiske contributed to this article
Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com
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free speech
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27424981/
other papers have no problem with this issue
one can only
Hope!
Hey Gertz, I am sorry you do
Hey Gertz, I am sorry you do not feel you can support your statements or match the intellect of the majority of posters. I am not going to waste my time further debating this issue with you.
reno look for them yourself
"Your statement is true except that you fail to state the newspaper online that reports the local news that is fair and balanced."
I'm satisfied with the VP, you are the one who doesn't like it so look for newspapers you like online yourself.
Gees, you come up with the dumbest questions!
Business vs News
Remember that any decisions about advertising are made by the business side of the paper, not the news people. The news staff may tilt liberal but the business side is totally separate. (BTW, it's actually the most conservative of the five papers that have employed me, but that's another story.) Remember that the Pilot is run by Frank Batten Jr., who is an evangelical Christian and supports conservative causes. He is incredibly hands-on with the business side, though not with the news side. And he's more conservative than anyone who posts here. Saying this shows liberal bias is way off the mark.
BTW, if the NRA wanted to buy full-page ads every day til the election, the Pilot would gladly sell 'em and more gladly take the money to the bank.
Don, I think the wrapper issue
was handled by the VP in saying they will sell space in the paper to anyone, but held the position that the wrapper was not a direction they wanted to go in. I don't think they are waiting for an gun control, pro-choice or Obama ad to put on the wrapper. I feel that if they put a political position of any kind on the wrapper, then that is indicative of the paper's endorsement.
Whereas inside the paper, it is obviously a paid ad.
The canary may well have been the acceptance of such priority advertising in that every front door would have had a pro NRA stance prominently displayed by the local newspaper.
the creepy Senate floor
Really scary to watch the Senate floor so you can see for yourself if candidates are truthful about their records. I also don't find it frightening to watch General Petraeus being unable to answer Obama's question: "what is the definition of success in Iraq", one of the conditions of the Powell Doctrine. It's their job to ask tough questions. Yet, I expected no answer from Petraeus.
The bureaucrats in the EU will do anything to prevent their citizens from seeing their debates live. Their excuse is its too expensive to provide transparency by translating their debates for all its citizens, while trying to ratify a 400-page Constitution without the consent of its people. Some things are taken for granted in this country.
The least I expect of a VP is that he or she knows the job description of a VP. The fact that she still doesn’t and could be our next President is truly frightening to me.
jmo
"Nine days before the election Gov. Palin still doesn't know the job description of the VP. That is frightening."
Interesting quote....but quite frankly I've found watching C-span at any time to be terrifying.
Even more terrifying is that the average american believes those clowns are going to do something for you...
Gertz
Your statement is true except that you fail to state the newspaper online that reports the local news that is fair and balanced. Generally, you do not back up your posts with facts. This is another example. Your ideas are biased and certaintly do not invite various opinions. It is obvious that you perceive others as inferior if they do not agree with your ideals. Your credibility is about zero on most of your posts.
the Senate floor on C-Span
No single newspaper, left, right, or center, can be trusted to deliver unbiased news. I like to use multiple sources, including foreign news, and I watch the Senate floor on C-Span daily. I am not afraid for my second amendment rights with an expert on the Constitution like Sen. Obama and a bi-partisan cabinet with the most qualified Americans, Republicans and Democrats.
C-Span is unique in the world. Watching the Senate floor is not as entertaining as reading the newspapers these days, but having the opportunity is one of the reasons why the US is the most Democratic country in the world.
Nine days before the election Gov. Palin still doesn't know the job description of the VP. That is frightening.
No one single issue
Gertz, no one said 20% would drop the Pilot over this issue. I would not drop it on this issue alone either, but it is not in isolation.
What I am saying is that combined with many other indications that the Pilot cannot be trusted to deliver unbiased news, they could suffer such losses over time.
We have known for some time that the Pilot's editorial position is left-of-center. That's OK, no one will give up on them because of the slant on the editorial page. It is when they allow their editorial position to pervade the rest of the operation, such as denying paid political advertising because it is contrary to their editorial stance, that their credibility comes into question.
This is a "canary in the coal mine" kind of issue. No one is that concerned because the canary dies, but they worry about what killed it.
why would the pilot
Why would the pilot lose 20% of it's circulation?
Because they refuse to use the NRA propaganda plastic bag? Hardly!
Remember the first amendment guarantees a right to print...
but does not compel anyone to read.
Sure, newspapers are free to be as biased as they wish, but their stock in trade is their credibility. When they allow their editorial position to pervade their whole operation, their credibility is suspect.
Newspapers are facing tough times right now. I want them to survive for many reasons, first among them is that no electronic medium currently provides the depth the paper does on local news.
But what happens to the Pilot's revenue if everyone who values the Constitution gives up on the Pilot? Could the paper survive a loss of, say, 20% of their circulation?
The Pilot may have a monopoly on print news here, but what good is that if they so lose the public trust that their paper doesn't sell and their advertisers follow the readers to other news sources?
Remember, the 1st Amendment
regarding freedom of the press means just that. Anyone can start a paper and write pretty much what they want about the government. The purpose of the free press in our country is to question every action taken or contemplated by those in power. There should never be a let up or slackening, particularly when the stakes are high, such as war. Those in power should have to justify to the public everything that they do. If a free press does not pressure the government, no one, repeat, no one else will do it. Even going back a few centuries, the press kept an eye on the other sources of power. With that in mind, then whoever is in power will look askance at the media and blame them for bias. Clinton was raked over the coals over and over again by the press. Many folks seem to forget that. If the "liberal media" had not given Bush a free ticket to Iraq, we would not be in the war, and possibly not the financial, mess we are in now. But even the Times did not do its job in questioning the need to attack Iraq. The 1st Amendment was not designed to guarantee accurate weather reports.
there are many online newspapers
There are many online newspapers, check it out and maybe you will find one you like. I'm happy with the pilot, you are the one miserable.
Hey Gertz-
Name my other choices for a local newspaper. If there is only one, the Pilot, it should be fair and balanced.
the problem some of you have is
The problem some of you have is when people or even a newspaper doesn't agree with YOU you get bent out of shape.
Life is not always about YOU. People and yes, newspapers have differenct views, that does not make them wrong. Just a different view than yours! My suggestion would be to find those "people" and "newspapers" who share your views, and eleminate the stress from ones that do not.
Comedians
Limbaugh never had any credibility with me with his very narrow world view. Hannity and Limbaugh should stay in Europe for a while so they can learn the meaning of socialism.
My support for the NRA is over after reading their words here in the Pilot. The NRA prefers to defend our freedom with Gov. Palin. We will ignore her seeing Russia from her window, her hunting experience will win the war on terrorism.
I have no problem with comedians, but this is an election for the highest seat in the US Government. This is not the time nor the place. The Pilot should do a piece on the Powell Doctrine since its meaning has been forgotten for way too long.
Freedom . . yeah right
The Pilot and the other mainstream left wing media are trying as hard as they can to suppress any view other theirs. The so-called fairness doctrine should apply to TV and print, not just AM radio or Rush Limbaugh.
I still want to know
I still want to know if there are ANY newspapers that will be using the NRA bag? What that will show to me is the Pilot is not the only one that made the right decision.