In defense of newspaper endorsements

I will not bore you with the surveys and studies and punditry that argue newspaper opinion pages and candidate endorsements are from a bygone era and contribute to distrust in the news media. Because there are arguments in the other direction as well. And, it is likely the measurements of distrust are distinctly partisan and so correlation not causation.

There are arguments to be made about the surplus of opinion-driven content online, and the confusion this can cause readers encountering an op-ed or column in its atomized form on the socials. Those issues can be fairly addressed and mitigated.

But shouldn't local news organizations be focused on doing what is right, rather than what is expedient? Or, shouldn't our first question should be: what is the role of journalism in supporting civic health?

If our job is to help a community understand itself, and journalism does that by creating and publishing knowledge, it feels an artificial distinction to then say:

“Yes, we are the leading civic institution dedicated to closely studying the candidates and issues. Yes, we have your best interests in mind. And yes, we are in the perfect position to share some well-informed thoughts about the future of the community. But, we won’t.”

That seems a retreat from our responsibilities and cedes the field to individuals and institutions that may or may not have the same public interests at heart.