The number of newspapers endorsing a candidate for president has dwindled with the industry's financial troubles the past two decades, in part because owners reason that it makes no sense to alienate some subscribers by taking a clear stand in a politically polarising time.
Yet in the past week, The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have angered readers for precisely the opposite reason: by choosing not to select a favoured candidate.
The fallout from both decisions continued on Monday, with Post owner Jeff Bezos taking the unusual step of publicly defending the move in the columns of his own paper. Three members of the Post's editorial board resigned their positions and some journalists pleaded with readers to not express their disapproval by cancelling subscriptions. Many thousands have already done so.
Bezos, in a note to readers, said it was a principled stand to ditch endorsements. People essentially don't care and see it as a sign of bias, he said. His comments appeared hours after NPR reported that more than 200,000 people had cancelled their Washington Post subscriptions.
If NPR's report is true, that would be a startling blow to an outlet that lost money and shed staff despite having more than 2.5 million subscribers last year. A Post spokeswoman would not comment on the report.
Subscribers are falling away in recent days
The Times has acknowledged losing thousands of subscribers due to its own decision.
Both newspapers had reportedly prepared editorials supporting Democrat Kamala Harris. Instead, at the behest of Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong at the Times, they decided not to endorse. Post publisher Will Lewis called it 바카라a statement in support of our readers' ability to make up their own minds바카라.
By announcing their decisions within two weeks of Election Day, however, the newspapers left themselves vulnerable to criticism that their publishers were trying not to anger Republican Donald Trump if voters returned him to power.
바카라It looked like they were not making a principled decision,바카라 said John Woolley, co-director of the American Presidency Project at the University of California-Santa Barbara.
Retired Post editor Martin Baron, on social media, said the decision showed 바카라disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage바카라 and that Trump would see it as a further invitation to intimidate Bezos.
Endorsements have a long history
Back in the 1800s, newspapers were sharply partisan in both their news pages and editorials. Even when a trend toward unbiased news reports took hold in the 1900s, editorial pages remained opinionated and the two functions were kept separate.
As recently as 2008, as many as 92 of the nation's 100 largest newspapers endorsed either Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain for president. But by 2020, only 54 made a choice between Trump and Joe Biden, according to the presidency project. Figuring there were even fewer this year, Woolley said they aren't even planning to count.
Studies found readers paid endorsements little heed and, in a digital world, many didn't understand the distinction between straight news stories and advocacy-driven editorials. In many cases, chain ownership took the decision out of the hands of local editors. At a time the news business is struggling, they didn't want to give any readers an excuse to leave.
바카라They really don't want to rattle or piss off the people who are not going to like their endorsement,바카라 said Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank. 바카라The solution is just not to do them.바카라
That hasn't seemed to fly at newspapers in two large metropolitan areas with liberal populations. The Post, under Baron's leadership during the Trump administration, saw its circulation spike with aggressive political coverage that frequently angered the former president.
The Post's decision drew ire from many quarters
Besides Baron, the decision was denounced by Watergate era reporting legends Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Columnists Robert Kagan and Michele Norris said they were quitting the newspaper in protest. Three of the nine members of the Post's editorial board said they were leaving that role.
Out West, a Los Angeles Times editorial writer, Karin Klein, wrote in the Hollywood Reporter that she was quitting the newspaper. Klein said that while Soon-Shiong had the right to impose his will on editorial policy, by making the non-endorsement so late in the campaign he was effectively expressing the opposite of the neutrality he claimed to seek.
Indeed, timing was the one regret Bezos expressed. 바카라I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it,바카라 he wrote. "That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.바카라
In an article about the continuing fallout on the Post's website Monday, more than 2,000 people left comments, many of them saying they were leaving. Even former GOP congresswoman Liz Cheney said she was cancelling.
바카라From what I've seen in recent days, the paper is hearing its subscribers very clearly,바카라 Post media critic Erik Wemple said during an online chat on Monday.
There are worries that journalists will be the ones hurt
The protests have left some journalists alarmed, worried that they and their colleagues would only be hurt in the end. The union representing Los Angeles Times workers issued a statement last week that 바카라before you hit that cancel' button바카라, recognise that subscriptions help underwrite the salaries of hundreds of journalists.
바카라The more cancellations there are, the more jobs will be lost, and the less good journalism there will be,바카라 Post columnist Dana Milbank wrote.
It would be better, one commenter on the newspaper's website said on Monday, to boycott Amazon 바카라 founded by Bezos 바카라 than the Washington Post.
Milbank said he was angered by the decision, too. He helped organise a protest letter that some of the paper's columnists signed. But he noted that, except for the endorsement decision, he's seen no evidence of Bezos interfering in the Post's editorial operations.
바카라For the past nine years, I've been labelling Trump a racist and a fascist, adding more evidence each week 바카라 and not once have I been stifled,바카라 he wrote. 바카라I've never even met nor spoke to Bezos.바카라
The owner said as much in his column. 바카라I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at the Post in favour of my own interests,바카라 he wrote. 바카라It hasn't happened.바카라
Some newspapers are bucking the trend of non-endorsements. The Oregonian, for example, reversed its decision not to endorse after staying neutral in 2012 and 2016. 바카라We heard the community's disappointment over our non-endorsements loud and clear,바카라 editor Therese Bottomly wrote in response to a question by Poynter's Edmonds.
In Cleveland, Plain Dealer Editor Chris Quinn polled his editorial board about whether to make a presidential endorsement. 바카라We don't delude ourselves about our presidential endorsement impacting voters,바카라 Quinn wrote. 바카라If we are not going to impact voters, why publish something that will anger half our audience?바카라
He cast the deciding vote. The Plain Dealer endorsed Harris. Quinn had raised the question via text to some of his readers. They felt a non-endorsement would be a betrayal, he wrote 바카라 an act of cowardice.
바카라That was enough for me,바카라 Quinn wrote. 바카라Our duty is to the readers.바카라
