Advertising Counsel

To the Editors:

We have been readers and employees of The New York Review for some time. We are saddened by management’s decision to accept advertising revenue from De Beers. Business as usual with a company that profits from the oppression of its workers under the apartheid system cannot be excused by the notion that it is simply a question of a First Amendment right to make a pitch.

Barbara Adams, Rachel Asher, William L.Ballinger, Christopher Benfey, Elena Brunet, Jim Cason, Phyllis Credle, Margarette Devlin, Catherine Gammon, Klara Glowczewski, Arthur Goldwag, Michael Johnson, Richard Kaye, Mimi Kramer, Kristin Krauskopf, Ellen Mackey, Raymond Maguire, Frank Majore, John Malar, Steven Meyer, Elizabeth Morano, Elaine Murrell, Janet Noble, Beth O’Rourke, Joshua Passell, Zak Perry, Darryl Pinckney, Joseph Rodriguez, Polly Scarvalone, Sheila Sinclair, Susan Soriano, Bob Tashman, Catherine Tice

The Editors reply:

The New York Review has never rejected advertisements for political reasons. We have published ads for opinions we find abhorrent, for companies and organizations whose behavior we deplore, and for products made in countries whose regimes are to us detestable. To do otherwise with any consistency means applying a political test to our advertising columns generally, and this we think it undesirable to do. As we have in the past, we think it appropriate that critical views, such as those expressed above, be made known to our readers.