Lost in the outrage yesterday over the New York Times’s decision to discount its ad price for the disgraceful MoveOn.org “Betray Us” ad about General David Petraeus from at least $167,000 to $65,000 (described by NewsBusters’ Brent Bozell as, in effect, co-sponsorship) was this awful financial news:

UPDATE: New York Times Reports Weak Ad Sales

CHICAGO (Dow Jones) — Shares of New York Times Co. hit a new 52-week low Wednesday after the company reported a steep advertising revenue decline in August at the unit that includes its flagship newspaper and the Boston Globe.

Revenue at the publisher’s News Media Group dropped 4.6% from the same month a year ago, to $121.5 million. Classified revenue, traditionally considered the most vital component of newspaper advertising, plunged 20% on weakness in real estate, help-wanted and automotive ads.

New York Times stock (NYT) was down marginally at $20.31 in midday trading. At one point, the shares hit a new one-year low of $20.19.

“ONE-YEAR low?” Try at least ten (that’s as far back as NASDAQ.com charts will go):

NYT’s share price has dropped over 25% in the past four months, and 60% since it acquired what may end up being a terminal case of Bush Derangment Syndrome in the summer of 2002.

Long-suffering NYT shareholders surely long for their own surge. They won’t get one as long as the company is willing to leave over $100,000 on the table for a politically favored advertiser.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

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UPDATE: NYT stock dropped again on Thursday, and actually was below $20 a share for a time.

After a grudge rematch on the home turf on Monday (see comments section at link), Bill Sloat at The Bellwether Daily played host to BSB III — yet another tussle between various parties currently and previously involved with Buckeye State Blog.

If there’s to be a Part IV, they should consider selling tickets.

In the final (at the moment) anonymous comment, the dispute over 2006 traffic count inflation into was put into a pretty damning (to BSB) context (link in comment is to this Sunday BizzyBlog post):

The Site Statistics through the Blog Ad network show BSB gets 14,349 ad impressions - if you look at Liberal Oasis - www.liberaloasis.com which is listed higher with 15,164 ad impressions then look at their sitemeter? They list they have 1,616 visitors per day. First Draft which is above Liberal Oasis in ad impressions by just a bit has a daily average visitor number of 1,442.

This means it is pretty far fetched for BSB to be getting 6,969 visits a day that Russell stated they were getting that BizzyBlog pointed out was said. Or there has been one hell of a drop in daily visitors.

Confirmation from Blogads (put “Buckeye” into the search at the link):

14,507 “ad impressions” per week is 2,072 per day. That’s 70% less than the 6,969 daily visitors claimed in August 2006, as noted in Sunday’s BizzyBlog post.

But (correct me if I’m wrong) “ad impressions” is supposed to be the same as “page views,” not visitors. In August 2006, BSB claimed 3,000,000 page views in 150 days, or 20,000 per day. If I’m right, and if BSB was right about its page views last year, its current traffic is barely 10% (2,072/20,000) of what it was.

(To avoid the inevitable snark — yes, I know that BSB’s traffic is currently higher than mine.)

I suppose the next argument from my correspondent who claimed that Alexa is often not accurate will be that Blogads, whose entire business model depends on quoting accurate ad impression info to advertisers, is somehow getting it wrong. Uh, doubtful.

So pick your poison, guys.

A-Team Ohio takes note of a Cleveland Plain Dealer story about how Cuyahoga County’s Board of Elections wants to move the Buckeye State’s 2008 primary from March to May because it’s worried about its ability to handle a high-turnout election so soon.

Putting aside for the moment my belief that all national primaries should really take place in September (that’s two months, NOT 14 months, before the general election), isn’t all the fury over Ken Blackwell, Southwestern Ohio, and the “stolen” 2004 election more than a little hysterical in light of how heavily Democratic Cuyahoga has admitted that it STILL won’t have its act together almost 3-1/2 years later? Oh, and I haven’t seen any reports of votes cast in the names of dead people downstate as has been proven to have occurred in Cuyahoga. Last time I checked, Hamilton, Clermont, Butler, and Warren Counties don’t have 200,000 more registered voters on the rolls than there are adults in the entire county. Cuyahoga did, as of last year.

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Al Gore has announced that he will endorse someone for president. Ben Keeler wonders whose aspirations Gore will thereby ruin.

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Patrick Poole (HT NixGuy) has a devastating piece on Ahmad Al-Akhras, CAIR, and his/their relationship to a 1999 incident the 9/11 commission considered a dry run for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America has more background. The Columbus Dispatch doesn’t, perhaps because, as Poole notes, “Ahmad Al-Akhras is one of Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman’s closest advisors.”

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Matt at RAB has a great catch on the Associated Press’s knee-jerk use of the term “consumer advocate” to describe those who support an Ohio ballot initiative that would open up the litigation floodgates.

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Taxman Blog has the latest on the Dartmouth Board of Trustees controversy; yours truly noted the situation last week (3rd item at link). Tactical hint The schools powers-that-be borrowed a gambit FDR attempted against the Supreme Court in the late 1930s. The underlying article indicates that whether the school can do what they wish is open to a very legitimate dispute:

The current debate hinges on parsing the 1891 agreement. Some believe the alumni were promised five seats (half of the existing 10 at the time — Ed.), regardless of the board’s size; others believe they were promised half the revolving seats not matter what. They fear a board expansion that would dilute the alumni voice.

Also note the oh-so-predictable whining about a “conservative cabal.”

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Godspeed to Justin at Right on the Right and everyone else attending the Gathering of Eagles in Washington this weekend.

From Victoria, British Columbia:

Toronto resident returns to Victoria with $25,000 donation
Saturday, September 08, 2007

Toronto resident Casey Roswell made a special trip to Victoria on Friday to thank the health care workers who saved his life last spring.

The 41-year-old advertising executive and his partner, Dr. Matthew Morgan, also had something else with them — a $25,000 donation for the Victoria Hospitals Foundation.

Roswell suffered a cardiac arrest in his hotel room when he and Morgan were visiting Victoria in April. As a physician, Morgan was able to give emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation before paramedics arrived.

Roswell was rushed to the intensive-care unit at Victoria General Hospital,and he credits the staff there with playing a major role in keeping him alive. He was later fitted with an implantable cardiac defibrillator at Royal Jubilee Hospital to correct his heart problem, with the operation coming on his 41st birthday.

Roswell and Morgan were at VGH to make their donation, and to reconnect with nurses, doctors and other medical professionals they had met during Roswell’s hospital stay.

Roswell, who had never had heart issues prior to the cardiac arrest, said the staff in the ICU was remarkable.

“It wasn’t just the medical care that I received, but also the compassion and the care that my family received.”

He said he has learned that with a so-called sudden “out-of-hospital” cardiac arrest like the one he suffered “few actually live to tell the story.

“So for me to have a complete recovery, I think, is a testament to the incredible care that I received here at [the Vancouver Island Health Authority].” …..

Go here for the rest of the story.