Newsday Rejects Ad Criticizing Cablevision

Newsday last week rejected an advertisement from the Tennis Channel that sharply criticizes the newspaper's parent company, Cablevision, for not carrying the network. Newsday's decision not to carry the ad raises questions about the paper's independence from Cablevision and whether it would have accepted the ad under its previous owner, the Tribune Company. Bob Steele, an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, said, "There are times when a newspaper says no to an ad because they find it objectionable on taste grounds, or find it filled with hatred for a particular group of people. But this one doesn't measure up in terms of protection because they're protecting themselves." In a statement, Cablevision wrote: "The Tennis Channel ads are nasty, unfair and intentionally misleading, and we don't think anyone should carry them."