On Tuesday, Sept. 13, The Daily Pennsylvanian published a paid advocacy advertisement from the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Some readers have criticized our judgment in printing what they consider to be a hateful message and questioned this news organization’s journalistic integrity.
I want to make clear that the DP does not endorse any advertisements printed in these pages. They do not reflect the DP’s point of view, nor do their messages carry the paper’s implicit approval.
Issue advocacy is not an uncommon form of advertising, and organizations espousing radical points of view have run controversial advertisements in national and campus newspapers for decades.
Advertisements are distinct from the DP’s editorial content and they are not expected to be objective. They represent the points of view of outside organizations often seeking to sway public opinion.
However, we do review their content prior to publication and can refuse to run them if we determine that they contain hate speech.
Ultimately, I deemed that this advertisement was within the bounds of appropriate political discourse and suitable for print.
The DP does not necessarily support the views of its advertisements, and we believe that our readers should be free to form their own opinions.
Lauren Plotnick is the Executive Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. Her email address is plotnick@theDP.com.
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