A green group is surprised The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page has decided to let the group publish a pro-climate action advertisement — for a hefty price.
The Partnership for Responsible Growth, a small, relatively unknown environmental group based in Washington, asked The WSJ in May if it could run 12 ads championing a tax on fuel producers. It planned on placing the ads in the Journal’s editorial pages, which are often hostile toward environmentalists and anti-fossil fuel activists.
The leading business journal passed on the first ad, which had “Exxon’s CEO says fossil fuels are raising temperatures and sea levels,” in its headline, followed by, “Why won’t the Wall Street Journal?”
So, maybe the first ad was a little too salty. The Journal’s advertising department rejected it, according to the environmental group.
The paper accepted the other 11 advertisements — the newspaper charged the group $36,528 for the WSJ-bashing ad while subsequent ads were charged $27,309 each, according to internal documents provided by the group.
WSJ spokeswoman Colleen Schwartz said that any group or company seeking to take on the Journal should expect to pay this amount.
