COMMENTARY Why newspapers endorse candidates
Why do newspapers endorse candidates?
After all, isn’t it an indication of bias?
No, not at all. First, the decision to endorse, made by a newspaper’s editorial board, does not affect news coverage because, at most newspapers, the editorial board is separated from the reporters covering the campaigns. The editorial board commonly consists of a newspaper’s editors, editorial writers and its publishers. The reporters following campaigns on a day-to-day basis do not have a hand in making endorsement decisions.
Newspapers make endorsements for the same reason that they editorialize on any subject – to enhance and advance the give-and-take within a community about important issues. Editorial boards at newspapers have the privilege of being able to sit down with a candidate and have a discussion about their philosophy, vision and priorities. Sitting across from a candidate and taking their measure for an hour or so is a luxury that few voters have.
Making an endorsement is a determination of where a newspaper’s editorial board stands on an issue or a candidate. It is not a command issued on high to readers. As Howell Raines, a onetime editor of The New York Times’ editorial page, once put it, “A candidate endorsement is not an attempt to dictate to the reader what he ought to do. It’s more a reflection of our feeling that we have an obligation to be part of the civic dialogue. We have a specific obligation to our readers to let them know what our collective wisdom is.”
Rather than marking a ballot for a particular candidate, our most fervent wish is this: That readers are engaged in their communities and participate in the democratic process.