Online Political Ads Cause a Stir

Shira Ovide reports on the media and Election Day. When it comes to ads, even the most partisan Web sites are strictly business. Some readers of influential and typically left-leaning blog TalkingPointsMemo were surprised to see online ads promoting California Proposition 8, a ballot measure seeking to define marriage in that state as only between a man and a woman. TalkingPointsMemo editor Josh Marshall posted an impassioned explanation about why visitors were seeing the ads. “When we started accepting paid advertisements in 2003, I instituted a clear policy that we would never accept or reject ads on the basis of political content,” Mr. Marshall wrote early Tuesday morning. “I think it’s the right policy even though it’s sometimes very uncomfortable to follow.” Most comments on TalkingPointsMemo supported Marshall. “I agree with Josh’s advertising policy and think it supports real democracy where people have a right to express their ideas, even ideas ... (link)