Staff at the New York Daily News said they are “mortified” after the paper allowed a political campaign to run a mock front page ad that made it seem like the paper had endorsed the candidate.

Democrat Alex Bores, who is running in New York’s 12th congressional district primary, is pictured in the controversial mock front page ad with the faux headline, “Taking on the Powerful and Standing Up For Us!” and a call to action: “Send a Fighter to Washington.”

While the words “paid political advertisement” are written at the top of the ad, they appear in a much smaller font than that of the mock headline and call to action. A disclosure at the very bottom of the spread states that it was paid for by the pro-AI Jobs and Democracy PAC, published in an even tinier font.

The X account for the Daily News’ unionized staff, @NYDNUnion, shared a post expressing the staff’s dismay at the front page spread.

“This looks like an endorsement, but its not — the wood of the Daily News should not be for sale! Our staff was mortified to wake up to a front page covered by a deceptive political ad for two days straight,” the post reads.

In the post, the staff goes on to slam Heath Freeman and his investment firm. Freeman is the President and Managing Director at Alden Global Capital, which owns the Daily News, having acquired the paper through its $633 million acquisition of the Tribune Publishing chain in 2021.

“Shame on Heath Freeman and Alden for selling our good name for a buck,” the Daily News Union wrote.

The move has also been widely slammed online, with LA Times media reporter Stephen Battaglio blasting the paper’s lack of standards via social media.

“I know standards are now gone,” Battaglio wrote on X. “But a faux front page ad for a candidate? Not good @NYDailyNews.”

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