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Help me reconcile some thoughts on newspaper endorsements.

Posted by Beryllium (aka grayman) Oct 25 '24, 11:39

Is there not a conflict between objectivity and endorsement? It feels like there is, to me, a layperson.

I said last week that I find the practice odd. Yet this week, LAT and WaPo are both in hot water for being instructed not to endorse. Often with staff quitting over interference over their editorial decisions (this part I understand, to a degree, but I do wonder if it still serves the goals of the owner).

Anyway. What am I missing?

Responses:

They already have an op/ed page. Maybe they should discontinue that too. -- nm - mara Oct 25, 11:59 2
- I think that's where my confusion came from - that it was the advice columnists doing the endorsing, not the reporters. -- nm - Beryllium Oct 25, 12:09 1
  - Now I’m confused, but maybe I’m just unaware of who’s doing the reporting and who’s doing the editorializing. -- nm - mara Oct 25, 12:15
Newspaper endorsements are an informed relay/public service of what the “political math” adds up to—by choosing not to, you’re saying it’s a zero - Trending Oct 25, 11:50
I'd be happy if papers didn't endorse anyone and instead endorsed voter turnout. -- nm - Max Oct 25, 11:48
The 'hot water' is because owners seems to be using a heavy hand to block what the editorial staff would otherwise do. That's scary. - ty97 Oct 25, 11:46 8
- Related, Dwayne Johnson's wiki page says he stopped endorsing because of reaction. - Max Oct 25, 11:56
- Add on to that: If these owners have a philosophical problem with endorsements (similar to you) then why wasn't this change made previously. -- (edited) - ty97 Oct 25, 11:47 6
  - The owners don't have a philosophical stumbling block, they are billionaires with financial reasons to block it -- nm - Beryllium Oct 25, 11:50 1
    - *Jack Nicholson nodding gif* -- nm - Trending Oct 25, 11:56
  - FINALLY: LAT and WaPo owners/managers not allowing the editor to endorse two weeks before the election is *in itself* an endorsement...of Trump -- nm - ty97 Oct 25, 11:49 3
    - Yes. If they made that decision after the last election and explained their reasoning, ok (though I would still disagree in something as - pmb Oct 25, 12:08
    - Yes, it clearly is. It's in proactive service of what Trump would want (without nakedly committing to it) -- nm - Beryllium Oct 25, 11:51 1
      - And thus why the papers are in hot water. How can you trust either LAT or WaPo now? -- nm - ty97 Oct 25, 11:52
Newspapers have two arms: the news staff and the editor/opinion staff. The two don't mix. It's the latter that issues endorsements. -- nm - ty97 Oct 25, 11:45 1
- well... it was that. I wouldn't say the divide is so clear with thin staffs these days. -- nm - Dark Callisto 🦊 Oct 25, 11:49

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Help me reconcile some thoughts on newspaper endorsements.

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