Unless you’re a news nerd, you’re probably not aware of the brouhaha created by the decision of two major newspapers — The LA Times and The Washington Post — to not endorse any candidates in the race for president.
The screams and hollers are coming from the left, who I am sure feel they’ve lost a voice, since the two newspapers’ editorial-page leanings are both generally to the left. They are blaming the “billionaire owners” for not wanting to alienate Donald Trump.
LA Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who made his billions in pharmaceuticals, said his decision “not to offer a recommendation would be less divisive in a tumultuous election year.” Three members of his editorial board resigned and “thousands” of readers are reported to have cancelled their subscriptions.
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, he of Amazon gazillions, said he is only returning the Post to its roots. The paper had historically not published endorsements until the recent past. But he also cited credibility issues. He wrote a piece to explain:
“Let me give an analogy. Voting machines must meet two requirements. They must count the vote accurately, and people must believe they count the vote accurately. The second requirement is distinct from and just as important as the first.
“Likewise with newspapers. We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement. Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose. Reality is an undefeated champion. It would be easy to blame others for our long and continuing fall in credibility (and, therefore, decline in impact), but a victim mentality will not help.”
To the best of my knowledge, the News-Banner has not endorsed any candidate — local, state or national — at least in recent memory. I could be wrong of course. In my previous life at the Decatur newspaper, Dick Heller felt compelled to share his opinions and, as the chief stockholder, was essentially speaking on behalf of the newspaper as a corporation. That was his prerogative. After he sold out and I was put in charge, I never felt compelled nor was I encouraged one way or the other by the corporate owners.
My personal feeling was — and is — that I just didn’t think making a formal endorsement of any candidate was — and is —part of our role. Inform and opine, yes. To speak for a corporation, even if I might be a part-owner, no. It has always seemed presumptuous, perhaps even an abuse of the newspaper’s influence, to make a formal recommendation to our readers about who to vote for.
As editor, I sometimes expressed my opinion about a candidate — local, state or national — and we of course publish individual opinions by columnists and readers about political races. Although I’m not familiar with the Times, The Post does a more equitable job of publishing both liberal and conservative opinions than most, including me. But for a company to take a political stance of any kind to me is not an option. When Coca-Cola and Disney executives took some woke stances the past few years, reportedly at least in part to appease some vocal employees, I thought they were way off base not just in what stance they took, but that they took one at all.
So what Bezos is saying is that by endorsing either candidate, any shroud of a curtain or any shred of a doubt about the perceived bias of a media source is removed. Amen.
This has been the subject of Saturday essays before, that it is not an easy thing to keep one’s personal biases out of a narrative — the story itself or how a story is treated in a larger or macro sense. But as I wrote a few weeks ago, I believe that most major mainstream news organizations try. Recognizing understandable doubts about the major television networks, I concluded then: “Sorta. For the most part. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
And I still am, although it is being severely tested as the presidential election winds up. Obviously that all depends on your perspective, which also comes into play as to whether Mr. Bezos and Dr. Soon-Shiong had good motives or bad. Such is the world we all live in — news nerds or not.
miller@news-banner.com
