Newspaper endorsements

DMN endorses McCain.

A no-brainer. I was told by my paperboy buddy that hundreds of DMN subscribers canceled when they endorsed Obama over Hillary. Gotta keep the suburbanites that are 70% of their readership happy.

Sunday endorsements from other papers on the link.

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/0-0&fp=48fc6349fe820de0&ei=eIT8SN_dNoriggP84YmNCQ&url=http%3A//ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hr5hmYnjJMz50Swp8ech-tpt4zoAD93T42980&cid=1260257479&usg=AFQjCNEtSqo6q1tDLECCNrtMj5Q-wvQkJg

 

In the day before the Internet and 24-hour news networks, endorsements by newspapers probably made sense. They're the ones who covered city hall or the state capitol and knew who did a good job and who didn't. Now everyone largely has access to much the same information and it's easier to decide for yourself.

 

Really? There are only five institutions traveling with each candidate day to day. They have far more access to officials and sources. I'll take their first-hand reported stories before those reporting what others are reporting.

 

Exactly. I've always thought it was idiotic, just as much so as if it was something like, "The Boston Globe endorses the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl..."

Who gives a fuck who your paper endorses? But those who work in the editorial sections of most papers have this self-importance to them that I've never understood.

 

It might have made sense when you had two or three newspapers in a community. Fifty years ago newspapers were often very partisan on their editorial pages. There was an identification as a Democratic or Republican newspaper.

I think one thing against newspaper editorials is that the people who write them don't sign them. It is the publisher's opinion ultimately, even if it is designated as an editorial board.

 

What I prefer is when an editorial board writes a piece explaining what it believes to be the positives and negatives of each candidate for a race. That way, no matter which way you lean, you have a chance of learning something useful, and the paper doesn't alienate part of its readership. This approach is especially helpful in primary elections and in elections for low-profile county and state offices with which voters are barely familiar.

 

Anchorage Daily News endorses Obama.

http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/567867.html