It’s the time of the year when newspaper endorsements are all the rage. This political season, there has been a number of surprising endorsements and it has also raised the question of media bias.
Paramountly, the purpose of journalism is often defined to be a service in kind to a government watchdog. According to Poynter, “Watchdog journalism is at the heart of a newspaper’s commitment to public service.” There is a legitimate question if watchdog journalism can exist if newspapers endorse candidates.
In a poll done by the Huffington Post, they found that 51 percent of voters think that newspapers should not make an endorsement.
This may have something to do with the fact that in a new Gallup poll that showed that Americans’ trust in mass media has hit a new low. Only 32 percent of voters say that they have a “fair amount” of trust in the media.
This number is mainly fueled by Republicans, where only 14 percent of them said they had a fair amount of trust in the media. However, both Democrat and Republican frontrunners have raised the question of media bias themselves after concerns of coverage ranging from emphasis on Clinton’s emails and Trump’s out of context commentary.
This is coupled with the fact that the owner of the New York Daily News has made donations to the Clinton Foundation. The Washington Post has also donated to the Clinton Foundation in the past. Carlos Slim, the largest shareholder in the New York Times, has also donated a large amount of money to the Clinton Foundation, along with Thomson Reuters, the owner of Reuters, as well as George Stephanopoulos, an ABC News anchor and AOL. The parent company of CNN has also donated to Clinton’s foundation. PBS, MSNBC and NBC News and the owner of Politico is on that list as well.
Newspapers have been endorsing candidates for years. It’s a part of their tradition. However, the Pew Research Center study done in 2008, 69 percent of people said that a newspaper’s endorsement would not affect their vote.
In 2012, 73 percent of Republican voters said that a newspaper endorsement would not affect their decision. Trump has yet to be publicly endorsed by a large news organization.
The New York Times endorsed Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton for President on September 24. In their endorsement they said, “A lifetime’s commitment to solving problems in the real world qualifies Hillary Clinton for this job, and the country should put her to work.”
They are not the only newspapers who want to give Clinton the job. The Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News and the Cincinnati Enquirer have also endorsed Clinton for president. The Cincinnati Enquirer endorsed a Democrat for the first time in nearly a century. “Presidential elections should be about who’s the best candidate, not who’s the least flawed. Unfortunately, that’s not the case this year,” they said.
The Atlantic, which has not endorsed a candidate since 1964, has endorsed Clinton as well. “Our endorsement of Clinton, and rejection of Trump, is not a blanket dismissal of the many Trump supporters who are motivated by legitimate anxieties about their future and their place in the American economy. But Trump has seized on these anxieties and inflamed and racialized them, without proposing realistic policies to address them,” they said.
“Anyone but Trump” rhetoric is popular among the endorsements. Several different newspapers stated that Trump was “dangerous” to the country and for that reason they would refuse to endorse him.
USA Today, who has never endorsed a presidential candidate before, did not actually endorse anyone, but made a plea to not vote for Trump. “Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he lacks the temperament, knowledge, steadiness and honesty that America needs from its presidents,” they said.
The Washington Post also went a similar route and pleaded for voters to not vote for Trump.
Keven Ann Wiley, editorial page editor for the Dallas Morning News who endorsed Clinton, told the BBC, “At a time when there are so many voices, we need to speak up and do our civic responsibility to not be over-shouted.”
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has received three endorsements, one of which was from the Chicago Tribune. “We offer this endorsement to encourage voters who want to feel comfortable with their choice. Who want to vote for someone they can admire.”
Republican nominee Donald Trump has made history by receiving no major newspaper endorsements.
The Cincinnati Enquirer has defended their position by saying that “I still believe it is important for the editorial pages of newspapers to take strong stands for the benefit of the communities we serve.”
Laina Yost
Managing Editor