In the final hours before the election, newspapers across the country are scrambling to churn out their endorsements. The East Tennessean will not be among them.
Newspaper endorsements are a tradition that I feel should have retired long ago, alongside the letterpress and the Mac Classic. They stem back to a time in the 18th and 19th centuries when newspapers were nothing more than rags used to perpetuate propaganda from their respective political parties. Although I’m among the few who don’t see today’s newspapers as “political rags,” there are, unfortunately, many editorial boards across the world that choose to take a political stance.
UWIRE, a Web site and wire service for university newspapers, found that of 70 college papers that endorsed candidates, 69 endorsed Democrat nominee Obama and one, The Daily Mississippian of the University of Mississippi, endorsed Republican McCain. Some may chalk these endorsements up to the elite liberal media (or it could be, as Tina Fey pointed out, the regular liberal media) or to the “red orchestra” – but it could also be a reflection of the fact that a large amount of young people across the nation are pulling for Obama.
As fascinating as this poll was to me, it was also worrisome that so many newspaper editors chose to carry on a tradition that stems from a dark history. Although many endorsements appear in the opinion sections of most newspapers, endorsing a candidate still smells like trouble to me.
If you endorse a candidate, then your ability to fairly, accurately cover political issues becomes marred.
Political opinions should be kept inside the realm of columns by individual writers.
Many newspapers take the time to explain or defend their political endorsements – but they rarely take the time to explain why an endorsement is necessary or just. A quote centered exactly around this issue, which comes from the “Law of the Student Press,” 1997, says, “Journalism is an honorable profession, but if journalists are ever to convince the public of that, they must be able to explain why their editorial decisions are right, not just that they have the right to make them.”
I feel that newspapers are meant to provide important information, interesting perspectives and gainful entertainment. I doubt that anyone has ever let a newspaper endorsement make a decision for them.
Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, agrees. I was inspired by a column he wrote in the Feb. 20, 2008 edition of Time. In the article, Stengel explains that in the 1936 presidential election, the Chicago Tribune, under the watch of conservative Col. Robert McCormick, “wholeheartedly endorsed the candidacy of Republican Alf Landon.” Before the election, the Tribune would answer the phone with, “Hello. Chicago Tribune. Only 10 days left to save the American way of life.”
Sixty-eight years later, in 2004, 29 percent of newspapers across the country endorsed political candidates. Even the Johnson City Press endorsed three Republicans, reflecting either the newspaper’s owner’s perspective, or the conservative beliefs of this area. The editorial board of the ET refuses to jump on this dusty, moldy bandwagon. So, in lieu of attempting to pick a political candidate for you, here is what the ET editorial staff is endorsing instead: truth and justice, equality, opportunity, checks-and-balances and a fair election.
If you haven’t voted already, go out on Nov. 4 and exercise your constitutional right by picking the candidate you feel has the best stance on the issues that are important to you.

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