Tampa Bay Times won't endorse in presidential, U.S. Senate races
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Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump during the second presidential debate. Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Tampa Bay Times won't endorse for president or the U.S. Senate, a move the region's paper of record waited weeks to explain to its readers.
Why it matters: The Times is among a growing list of national and regional news outlets that endorsed presidential candidates in prior elections but have chosen to scrap the tradition this year.
- The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times opted to forgo endorsements this year, which prompted swift blowback, subscription cancellations and staff resignations.
The latest: Nearly a month after publishing its endorsements page, the Times Editorial Board on Monday offered an explanation for opting not to recommend candidates for the two highest offices on readers' ballots.
- The board wrote that it chose to prioritize "decisions readers tell us they need the most help making."
- "We cannot think of a single reader who has told the Editorial Board over the past election cycle that they needed our help deciding on how to vote for president," they wrote.
What they're saying: While the owners of the L.A. and Washington papers reportedly intervened to prevent endorsements from being published, the Times board said its decision was made months ago.
- "No one told us we couldn't. No one killed our presidential recommendation after it was written," they added. "The fact is, we never wrote one and never intended to."
Yes, but: The Times offered no explanation for its decision on the U.S. Senate race.
Catch up quick: The Editorial Board, which is separate from the newsroom, said on the endorsement page it published Oct. 5 that it had focused on "statewide races" and those connected to Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
- The board acknowledged that "[n]ot everyone thinks that a newspaper's editorial board should make political recommendations," but said it believes doing so "contribute[s] to healthy political dialogue."
Zoom out: The Times is far from alone in backing away from endorsements.
- The Minnesota Star Tribune said in August that it will not endorse candidates or causes in the 2024 elections.
- Over 200 Alden Global Capital-owned publications, which include the Chicago Tribune and Denver Post, ended the practice in 2022, citing "increasingly acrimonious" public discourse.
- McClatchy, which owns the Miami Herald, stopped in 2020.
The intrigue: The Poynter Institute — which owns the Tampa Bay Times — gave the paper's decision only a parenthetical reference in an article published Monday about regional publications that made similar calls.
Our thought bubble, via Axios' media correspondent Sara Fischer: "Most newspapers are citing fear of being considered partisan in a hyper-polarized world."
Between the lines: Times' Executive Editor Mark Katches, who doesn't sit on the editorial board and wasn't involved in the decision, predicted in a 2012 article that newspapers would "taper off" writing editorials.
- "They'll find that they can be a leader in their communities by engaging audiences, moderating forums, holding events," he wrote, "... while avoiding the pitfall of alienating a significant percentage of their audience by telling people what to think."