Newspapers Ads Are Battlefield for Costly War of Words on Mideast

An opinion, said Bob Freeman, grand master of the Brith Abraham fraternal organization, “will have value once in print.”

But someone valued Freeman’s opinion even before it appeared in print — advertising salespeople at The New York Times, to be precise, who charged him $11,000 for a full-page ad appearing in an edition of the newspaper this week.

Recent advocacy advertisements relating to the Middle East have ranged in style from densely written polemics to pithy slogans, and have ranged in opinion from bravos for Yitzhak Shamir to condemnation of the Israeli government he heads.

But whatever their focus, the ads prompt a similar reaction from readers: “How much did that thing cost?”

Because Freeman did not designate when and where he wanted the Times to place his ad, which criticizes how the media have been covering the unrest in Israel’s administered territories, Freeman’s rate represented a major discount.

According to spokespersons at three major dailies, the going rate for a full-page ad is between $36,000 and $43,000.

“Advocacy ads make up a major amount of revenue,” acknowledges Bob Rawls, advocacy advertising salesman for The Washington Post, where the cost of a full-page ad can range from $34,452 to $40,920.

Rawls thinks his newspaper may be the most popular venue for such ads, since its 764,000 daily and 1.85 million Sunday readers include all but one member of Congress (he would not say who) and most top officials of the Regan administration.

Along with the debate on gun control and legalized abortion, the Middle East inspires some of the largest numbers of ads, said Rawls. At least six pro- or anti-Israel ads have run in the paper since the unrest began in December, he said.

William Adler, a spokesman for The New York Times Company, declined to tally the number of Middle East-related ads that have appeared there recently, but said “it’s safe to say that the ongoing situation in the Middle East provokes a lot of that kind of opinion.”

A full-page ad in the Times costs between $36,000 and $38,000. Circulation is 1 million on weekdays and 1.65 million on Sundays, according to Adler.

STEEP PRICES ARE NO DETERRENT

The individuals and organizations placing the ads say the steep prices are worth it. “The Times has the kind of audience we wanted,” said Daniel Benson, who heads a committee that has placed full-page reprints of George Will’s pro-Shamir columns in the last two Sunday editions of The New York Times.

Benson’s Ad Hoc Committee for Middle East Policy Options placed the ads to coincide with Shamir’s visit to the United States. The response, said the New York attorney, has been better than he expected, and has included 300 letters and $10,000 in contributions. The money will go for future ads.

Nan Fink, publisher of the liberal Jewish magazine Tikkun, said that the magazine also timed its New York Times ad to appear during the Shamir visit. Boldly headlined “Israel Must End the Occupation,” the quarter-page ad included the names of close to 250 prominent American Jewish academics and celebrities, including Woody Allen, Richard Dreyfuss, Arthur Miller and Philip Roth.

“We wanted to tell Shamir that not all American Jews agree with him,” said Fink. “Our readership is self-selective, and an ad gets our point of view out to other people who may be stimulated by it.”

Some pro-Israel groups responded angrily to the advertisement, which supported a similar petition by Israeli academicians calling for self-determination for the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. But Fink said that more than half of the letters she has received supported than ad, and that contributions it generated have totaled “in the thousands” of dollars.

Still, Benson and Fink’s efforts are modest, compared to those of Jack Mondlak, a Jewish-Mexican industrialist whose full-page pro-Israel ads in the Times, Post and Wall Street Journal run to 5,000 words and more. Mondlak wants to place the ads in 150 major newspapers worldwide, and has set up the Jack Mondlak Defend Israel Fund, under the auspices of the Zionist Organization of America, for that purpose.

In a solicitation letter, Mondlak calls his fund “a battle for the minds and hearts of the world community.”

PAPERS SET STANDARDS

Major newspapers welcome the range of opinions, or at least the revenue, represented by all of these ads, but do set standards for what can and cannot be printed. Although most newspapers insist the advertiser and advertising agency assume liability for content and any libel claims that may arise, libel laws can hold the publisher, as well as the advertiser, responsible for a libelous advertisement.

At The New York Times, an advertising acceptability department checks each ad for language that may be discriminatory, vulgar, fraudulent or misleading, said Adler.

At The Washington Post, said Rawls, the acceptance committee asks that advertisers substantiate any facts and figures. It generally requires signed release forms from those listed in petitions. All ads must include the name and address of the advertiser.

“Generally, our policy reflects the fact that it’s a free country,” said Laura Morgan, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Times, which charges between $36,610 and $43,000 for a full page. The paper’s circulation is 1.27 million weekdays and 1.41 million Sunday. Morgan said there are no “hard and set” rules for what is acceptable, but a review of accuracy is usually part of the process.

Ads are rejected outright, said the spokespersons, but usually not before some effort is made to suggest changes to the advertiser. Freeman of Brith Abraham, for example, agreed to changes in his organization’s ad before it appeared in The New York Times. “They found some of the wording objectionable,” he said.

Spokesperson Adler was not familiar with Freeman’s ad, but said that suggestions are made “so as not to discourage the advertiser.” He acknowledged, however, that New York Times’ standards “are known for being stricter than some.”