A newspaper is apologizing for an ad-rate error in the MoveOn "Betray Us" controversy — and it isn't The New York Times.
The Minnespolis Star Tribune has now admitted that they charged Republican Senator Norm Coleman too little when he took out a full-page ad bashing the MoveOn piece and attacking Al Franken for not distancing himself from it. The paper charged Coleman only $23,000, when the rate should have been $37,000.
"A new sales rep made a mistake and gave the Coleman campaign a rate from the local retail rate card, rather than the national rate card," said Benjamin Taylor, the paper's senior vice president for communications and marketing. "We only discovered the mistake when the Franken campaign complained."
In order to correct the situation, the paper is refunding Franken's campaign $12,165 from a full-page ad they took out two months ago — less than the rate error in Coleman's case, but adjusted for the different days when their respective spots were printed.
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/09/moveonny_times_ad_story_descends_into_absurdity.php