Tuesday, July 20, 2004

<>July 20, 2004<>
Inside Politics
by Greg Pierce

[snip]
Media favorite

Dozens of reporters, editors, publishers and executives for U.S. newspapers and magazines have donated to John Kerry's presidential campaign, according to blogger Michael Petrelis.

Mr. Petrelis, after perusing Federal Election Commission files on Political Moneyline at www.tray.com last week, originally thought that not a single member of the print media had made a contribution to the Bush campaign. He later discovered that news baron Rupert Murdoch had given $2,000 to President Bush, which matched the contribution he made to the Kerry Senate re-election campaign in 2001.

"After researching Federal Election Commission records for New York Times editorial staff back in the spring, I discovered the paper's reporters had donated a healthy sum of money to candidates, primarily Democrats, over the years," Mr. Petrelis writes on his blog the Petrelis Files (www.mpetrelis.blogspot.com).

"Some of the New York Times reporters' donations were made after the paper instituted a policy prohibiting such contributions, while the bulk of the donations were made prior to the ban. (You can find these donations elsewhere on my blog.)"

Last week, Mr. Petrelis did another search, concentrating on more than 50 newspapers, magazines, wire services and names of publishers.

"Wish I could say I was surprised at how many media people have donated to Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic National Committee or Democratic candidates, but I can't," he said. "In no particular order of importance, here are the highlights of what I found, in my unscientific survey:

•"Rupert Murdoch donated $2,000 to Kerry's senatorial campaign in 2001; and he gave Sen. Ted Kennedy $1,000 in 1999.

•"New Yorker senior editor Hendrik Hertzberg gave Kerry's presidential campaign $900, a fact I don't think he has disclosed in the magazine.

•"Martin Peretz, editor in chief of The New Republic, donated $2,000 to Kerry in February.

•"Former Vermont governor Howard Dean was the second-top recipient of reporters' dollars.

•"The one donation from a Wall Street Journal writer this year, Henny Sender, was for $300 for Kerry.

•"Ralph Nader received only $1,200 from one person; Helga Halaki of Time magazine's editorial side."
[snip]

No comments: