Even since 1976, in the wake of the Watergate scandal that the newspaper broke, The Washington Post has endorsed a presidential candidate. But this week it told staff it would not make an endorsement in 2024, nor in any future contests.
It was described by publisher and CEO Will Lewis as the paper “returning to our roots”. But the decision, reportedly the result of an edict from billionaire owner Jeff Bezos that overruled a call to endorse from the paper’s editorial board, has sparked a barrage of criticism, including from the paper’s staff and readership. A Kamala Harris endorsement had reportedly already been drafted.
Since the decision, the paper has lost more than 200,000 digital subscriptions. NPR reports it represents approximately 8% of The Post’s total subscriber base.
Close observers see the decision as a capitulation of business interests to the potential of a Trump presidency. Indeed, Bezos, who owns a number of other businesses with federal government contracts, has had a publicly tense relationship with Donald Trump. Executives from the Bezos-owned space exploration company Blue Origin met with Trump on the same day The Post’s non-endorsement was announced.
On the morning of October 29, Australian Eastern time, The Washington Post published a short essay by Bezos, defending the decision and claiming that while “presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election … [what they] actually do is create a perception of bias”.
“Many of the finest journalists you’ll find anywhere work at The Washington Post, and they work painstakingly every day to get to the truth. They deserve to be believed,” Bezos wrote, while also admitting that “when it comes to the appearance of conflict, [he was] not an ideal owner of The Post“.
But outside the Washington paper, which media outlets are backing which candidate? And does it even matter?
The Post is not the only daily newspaper to break with the tradition of endorsing a candidate. Just two days earlier, the board of the Los Angeles Times was told by billionaire medical entrepreneur owner Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong that the paper would not be making an endorsement in this year’s race either.
Soon-Shiong’s activist daughter Nika told The New York Times in a statement that the decision to not endorse was driven by Vice President Harris’ ongoing support of Israel amid the conflict in the Middle East.
“As a citizen of a country openly financing genocide, and as a family that experienced South African apartheid, the endorsement was an opportunity to repudiate justifications for the widespread targeting of journalists and ongoing war on children,” she told The Times.
Dr Soon-Shiong said in response that his daughter “does not have any role at the L.A. Times, nor does she participate in any decision or discussion with the editorial board”, while the paper’s editor of editorials, Mariel Garza, who resigned over the decision, said that “if that was the reason that Dr Soon-Shiong blocked an endorsement of Kamala Harris, it was not communicated to me or the editorial writers”.
The Los Angeles Times routinely endorsed Republicans for office from its establishment in 1881 through to Richard Nixon in 1972. Following Watergate, the Times stopped endorsing candidates until Barack Obama in 2008, and has endorsed Democrats in every presidential election since.
The New York Times, however, remains resolute in its endorsement of Kamala Harris for president. The Times hasn’t backed a Republican since Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, and has consistently made endorsements dating back to its founding in 1851. Then deputy editorial page editor Kathleen Kingsbury said in 2020 that “endorsements are supposed to assess candidates’ platforms and pledges and offer readers in-depth guidance so they can make up their minds on whom to vote for in an educated way”.
Kingsbury admitted, however, that the impact of editorial endorsements is unclear.
While backing a winning horse might be the motivation of some Australian outlets, then Chicago Tribune editorial page editor John McCormick said in 2017 that it was not the main reason newspapers endorse.
“They explain to the world what that publication is, what it advocates, how it thinks, what principles it holds dear,” he wrote.
There have been precious few news media endorsements for former president Trump, with the Murdoch-owned New York Post one of the largest papers (by readership) to endorse the Republican. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has also endorsed Trump, but it is alone among major US daily newspapers. While the Chicago Tribune at the time of writing is yet to endorse a presidential candidate (but has endorsed in a number of other races for this election), the Houston Chronicle endorsed Harris, as did The Boston Globe, The Seattle Times, Las Vegas Sun and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
However, over 200 outlets owned by media conglomerate Gannett have explicitly opted not to back candidates in presidential or national races, USA Today reports (USA Today is also owned by Gannett).
The network includes the Phoenix-based Arizona Republic, The Des Moines Register and Detroit Free Press.
So what about things closer to home? Then Age editor Gay Alcorn said at the 2022 federal election (while endorsing the Labor Party and Anthony Albanese) that “election editorials have little influence on the outcome, but it’s important that we have a view, as we do on other issues”. The Age was joined by its stablemate The Sydney Morning Herald, as well as the ACM-owned The Canberra Times and Guardian Australia.
Each of the News Corp papers endorsed the Coalition to continue its reign in 2022, with the exception of the Northern Territory-based NT News, which backed Labor (which had dominated NT politics since 2001). They were joined by The Australian Financial Review and The Australian. News Corp has consistently backed Liberal leaders dating back to the Dismissal in 1975, barring Bob Hawke in 1984 and Kevin Rudd in 2007, two elections where Labor had been expected to dominate.
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