'Editorials' a Chorus of One

Kudos to Facing South for unearthing an astroturf editorial that ran in at least a half-dozen newspapers around the country. The editorial, in support of President Bush's suspension of a law that would require Katrina reconstruction to pay the local prevailing wage scale, runs verbatim in the various newspapers except for the final paragraph. Some versions include a specific plea:

We urge every member of Colorado’s Ohio's congressional delegation to oppose any effort to reverse the president’s prudent — and, yes, moral — decision to suspend Davis-Bacon. And if anything, they should be pushing for its permanent repeal.

Other versions in Indiana, North Carolina and California, drop the final graf, but the impression to most local readers is that this is the voice of their local newspaper. Actually, it's a corporate voice, Freedom Communications Inc, and was written by a former Bush I staffer and conservative scribe now the editorial page editor of the Freedom-owned Colorado Springs Gazette.

Kinda proves the old saw "The freedom of the press belongs to those who own one."