Newspapers flee presidential endorsements
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Publishers at the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times this week said their papers would forgo endorsements for this year's presidential election, adding to a growing number of papers that are choosing to back down from political endorsements across the country.
Why it matters: Their decisions, coming less than two weeks from Election Day, have been hit with backlash from journalists who argue billionaire owners of papers that would've endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris are pulling punches to play it safe.
Driving the news: William Lewis, the Post's publisher, said the paper would no longer endorse presidential candidates, arguing the decision is "consistent with the values The Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects."
- The Post, he noted, only began routinely endorsing presidential candidates in recent decades.
- But the decision reportedly caught the Post's newsroom brass off guard. The newspaper's editorial board had already drafted and approved an endorsement for Harris, per CJR,
Zoom in: The newsroom's union said it was "deeply concerned" with the decision, especially coming 11 days before Election Day.
- "The message from our chief executive, Will Lewis - not from the Editorial Board itself - makes us concerned that management interfered with the work of our members in Editorial," the union said.
- The decision not to publish the editorial "was made by The Post's owner, Jeff Bezos," it added, citing conversations with its newsroom union members. It "undercuts the work of our members at a time when we should be building our readers."
- It was also reported Friday that Robert Kagan, a Post editorial columnist, resigned in the wake of the decision.
Between the lines: Earlier this week, Los Angeles Times Publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong blocked what was supposed to be an endorsement from its editorial board in favor of Harris, the state's former Senator and Attorney General.
- The decision drove the leader of the newspaper's editorial board to resign.
The big picture: With trust in mass media at an all-time low, more publishers are choosing to avoid the potential blowback of endorsements.
- The Minnesota Star Tribune said in August it will not endorse candidates or causes in the 2024 elections.
- The New York Times said earlier this year that it would stop endorsing candidates in New York races but would continue its more than 160-year tradition of endorsing presidential candidates.
- More than 200 publications owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital, including the Chicago Tribune and Denver Post, declared in 2022 that they would no longer endorse national political candidates in their opinion pages, arguing the public discourse "has become increasingly acrimonious."
Go deeper: LA Times editor resigns after owner blocks Harris endorsement plans
