The Gainesville Register has refused to run the following ads. They sent an e-mail saying the deadline to
submit ads was Thursday at 4:00 PM. All ads were submitted at least eight hours before the deadline. All but one was
at least 14 hours before the deadline and one was actually sent more than 36 hours before the communicated deadline.
David Mann at the Register refused to run these ads because he viewed them as controversial and said he wouldn't run
any controversial ads after Thursday that hadn't run before then. It may be a made up rule to squelch free speech at
least for certain political advertising or candidates. The Register sent an e-mail with the 4:00 Thursday Deadline
but never mentioned any controversial ads had to be in earlier.
It now appears we know why The Register refused to run these ads and pulled the last ad to Janelle Haverkamp setting
the Record Straight. They have now endorsed her and allowed her to run a new ad critical of the "troublemakers" who
might point out some inconvenient truths about her record. It appears The Register has one set of rules for people
they support and a different set of rules for "troublemakers" who don't support their preferred candidates.
The Weekly News of Cooke County has run every ad I've asked them to run and has never asked me to change anything.
Contrast that to The Register where you almost always have to negotiate with them. Further more, David Mann went back
on his word. He agreed to run the response to "Janelle Haverkamp, Let's Set the Record Straight", Friday, Sunday and
Monday. Apparently someone didn't like the ad when it came out on Friday. He called me at 4:45 on Friday afternoon
to tell me that he was pullling the ad that I had already paid to run for three days. It was too late to call anyone
in Birmingham at that point. The interim-publisher consistently ducked my calls earlier in the week until I went
over his head.
Here are the ads the Register refused to run the week-end before the March 4th election that were submitted before the
4:00 PM deadline on Thursday, 2/28/08
I respect their desire to treat everyone fairly and I don't expect special treatment. However; when they send an
e-mail with what the deadlines are and then make up an earlier deadline they didn't communicate, at least to me, I have a
problem with that. I would have run the ads sooner, if I had just known of the earlier deadline.
Perhaps it is time to stop sending advertising to The Register and give it almost exclusively to the other papers such
as The Weekly News. They assert no editorial control over political ads. If you pay to run it and label it as
a political ad, you can say whatever you want. You still have to be responsible to tell the truth to maintain integrity
and avoid libel and slander laws. This author does his best to verify the facts and truth before running any ads.
The first ad ran this Friday, 2/29/08. Somebody on the other side must have complained to The Register because
at 4:45 on 2/29/08, David Mann called me and told me he would not run the ad for three days as he had previously agreed and
taken money for. Is this a breech of contract?
