NOW Gets Irate Over 'Daily News' Cartoon. Sexist? You decide.

The National Organization for Women’s New York State chapter is up in arms over a cartoon criticizing Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) by Bill Bramhall in New York’s Daily News.

In the cartoon (at left, click to enlarge), Gillibrand is trying to speak as a hook, socks, gags and corks are all aimed at stopping her. The joke is aimed at Gillibrand going over her allotted time during the Sonya Sotomayor hearings, cartoonist Bramhall told Rob Tornoe at Daryl Cagle’s Political Cartoonists Index Web site.

“It looks like the Daily News has a new target for their misogynistic garbage. So what is the message, ‘Sit down and shut up, girls?’”  NOW-NYS President Marcia Pappas said in a statement.

“The cartoon is about a politician with diarrhea of the mouth, now about her gender,” Bramhall responded.

But Pappas isn’t satisfied. “Bramhall’s phallic symbols send a clear message that women are good for only one thing. And the disrespectful cartoon certainly touches on concerns feminists have had for centuries,” she added.

What do you think? Leave a comment, below (registration is not required). -- Shawn Moynihan

Two Papers Play Rope-a-Dope?

Two newspapers in Calgary, Alberta, Canada have come under fire from an animal rights group which says the papers refused to run an advertisement calling for a ban on calf-roping as part of the Calgary Stampede rodeo event.  In a press release, the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) attacked both the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun for rejecting the advertisement. "The Herald refused to give a reason for the rejection and the Sun said it did t share the ad's opinion so would not run it."

This is an outrageous denial of free speech," said VHS's Peter Fricker. in a statement. The advertisement will run in Fast Forward, a weekly paper in Calgary. No one from either  paper has commented on the advertisement,  which can be viewed here. -- Samuel Chamberlain

What Stays in Vegas May Not Play There

And you thought newspapers would need to accept almost any ad these days?  Las Vegas paper turns down ad seeking to take advantage of Sen. John Ensign's current extra-marital scandal.

Not Just Newspapers: Ads Down All Along the LIne

New data from our parent company Nielsen finds overall ad spending down 12% for first quarter, biggest drop since 1992.  National newspapers about the worst but even TV down single digits and gets worse from there.

Pennsylvania Paper Assassination Ad Draws Fire, Apology

Publisher John Elchert of the Times-Observer in Warren, Pa., had to spend much of Thursday fielding calls from concerned readers after his paper ran a classified ad that appeared to call for the assassination of President Obama.

"It is unfortunate that it got past our classified people," he said. "My first call [Thursday] was to the police chief, and I believe his protocol is to contact the Secret Service." An apology also ran in today's paper.

The ad (seen above) stated: "May Obama follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley & Kennedy!" All four of those presidents, of course, were assassinated in office. Elchert said when the ad was taken, the staffer who took it "did not make the connection of what tied those presidents together." -- Joe Strupp

INMA Coming To Big Apple Next Year

Next year’s annual International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA) World Congress, its 80th, will be held in New York City, its board of directors announced as the organization opened its 2009 annual meeting Wednesday in Miami.

The conference will be held April 20-22, 2010 at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. New York last hosted an INMA World Congress in 2004.

Dude, Where's My Property Forfeiture Advertising?

While newspaper publishers were on Capital Hill pleading for government help, the bean counters in the U.S. Justice Department were figuring out how to cut even more revenue from them. Thursday, the department said it intends to stop buying newspaper ads to publish legal notices on property forfeiture.

As Brent Kendall of Dow Jones Newswires first reported, Justice has traditionally used newspaper ads to announce its intention to seize private property in criminal or civil cases. But a couple of years ago it set up www.forfeiture.gov, and now it figures that's all it needs. Phasing out newspaper advertising over five years will save some $6.7 million, the department said. -- Mark Fitzgerald

The London 'Evening Standard' Mea Culpa Campaign

In an unusual, to say the least, newspaper campaign, the Evening Standard in Britain next week launches a three-week ad campaign in which the London daily says it is “sorry” for past journalistic sins.

The ads will run on buses and “tubes” in London. Each has a huge image of the word “sorry” followed by the things the paper thinks it should apologize for, such as “being complacent,” “being predictable,” “losing touch.” Ads will not name the newspaper, but instead show its "Eros" logo.

The campaign is keyed to a relaunch of the paper, which was purchased earlier this year -- and very controversially so -- by the Russian billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev. His new editor, Geordie Greig, has promised the paper will take a “fundamentally more optimistic view of life,” the Guardian media critic Roy Greenslade reports.  -- Mark Fitzgerald

Paradise Found: ‘Palm Beach Post’ Gets a New Slogan

When it comes to newspaper slogans, it’s hard to beat the Daily Herald’s in suburban Chicago. It was first uttered by the paper’s founder, H.C. Paddock, more than 120 years ago: “Our aim: To fear God, tell the truth and make money.”

Most daily newspaper slogans are that old or older. You never hear of new newspaper slogans – until now. The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post has just introduced this as its slogan: The Home Page of Paradise.

In a letter to readers, Publisher Alex Taylor said he had been searching for a slogan that would “articulate the beauty of what we do in this magical place,” such as reporting that an alleged Pennsylvania Ponzi schemer used his ill-gotten gains to buy a house in Palm Beach not 150 yards from … alleged Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. Is this a great paradise or what?

Taylor said the slogan is the brainchild of Sherman Adler, who heads up something called Image Engineering Group. Taylor's reaction:

I loved it from the moment I heard it. It succinctly states the role we play as the premier source of news and information right here in the seat of Flagler's "veritable paradise." It tells the story of the transition from print to digital. It puts a flag in the sand and reminds people why we are here. It's a beautiful place with a wonderful history and future.

The Home Page of Paradise. What do you think of the new Palm Beach Post slogan? --Mark Fitzgerald

The New Motown Sound: Do Detroit Newspapers Have A Hit 'This Time'?

According to Rich Harshbarger, the vice president of consumer marketing for Detroit Media Partnership, “hundreds” of Michiganders have requested recordings of “This Time,” the theme of a branding campaign for The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. “When we first discussed and began testing this musical concept, we knew we were on to something that would resonate with people throughout Michigan, regardless if they were a subscriber or not,” he says in an announcement that the song is now available as a single exclusively on iTunes. Detroit Media thinks that’s a first for a newspaper. Check out the commercial that’s running in Detroit.  --Mark Fitzgerald

No More Eat-Your-Heart -Out Ads in Your Paper?

L.A. Times reveals that some studios are cutting ads for new youth-oriented flicks in newspapers because kids today -- they just don't read print.  So could be big revenue hit for the papers in NYC and L.A.