NY Times editorial cited the paper's misleading report on "bundlers"

Summary: In an editorial on of "fixing the campaign finance system" The New York Times cited a previous Times article that, the editorial board wrote, "reported that despite the Obama campaign's assertions that the senator relies largely on modest contributions, many of them raised on the Internet, one-third of the $340 million he has pulled in has come from donations of $1,000 or more." But the Times editorial did not note that a significantly higher percentage of Sen. John McCain's campaign contributions have equaled or exceeded $1,000.

In an August 11 editorial, The New York Times wrote of "fixing the campaign finance system": "A good place to start would be reining in 'bundlers' -- the front men who collect piles of smaller checks that grease the campaign machinery and, potentially, the special interests of the hunter-gatherers themselves." As evidence that Sen. Barack Obama needs to "rein[] in" his bundlers, the Times cited an August 6 Times article that, the editorial board wrote, "reported that despite the Obama campaign's assertions that the senator relies largely on modest contributions, many of them raised on the Internet, one-third of the $340 million he has pulled in has come from donations of $1,000 or more." But -- like the August 6 article -- the Times did not note in the August 11 editorial that a significantly higher percentage of Sen. John McCain's campaign contributions have equaled or exceeded $1,000.

As Media Matters for America documented, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, contributions of $1,000 or more represented 36.4 percent of Obama's total contributions from individuals, compared with 74.3 percent of McCain's total contributions from individuals:

From the August 11 editorial, headlined "Baleful Bundlers":

Meanwhile, The Times reported that despite the Obama campaign's assertions that the senator relies largely on modest contributions, many of them raised on the Internet, one-third of the $340 million he has pulled in has come from donations of $1,000 or more. Most of these large donations have been collected by 500 or so bundlers, many from industries with interests in Washington, who have each raised at least $50,000.

—M.G.