The End of Newspaper Endorsements?

I don't like how it happened, but I'm glad it's stopping. What am I talking about? Major newspapers endorsing political candidates.

Recently, some big papers have decided to stop telling us which candidates to vote for. Jeff Bezos, the Amazon baron who owns the Washington Post, and LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong don’t want to anymore.

The Post claims it's a return to being truly independent. I don’t believe that but hey I don’t own the paper

NPR reports that 200,000 or so subscribers unsubscribed in protest.

But I can't help but feel a bit relieved. I hope this isn’t a one-off. 

I hate the notion of benevolent billionaires swooping in to save failing newspapers. They’re treated like they’re not just uber-successful humans with incentives that they wield day to day like the rest of us. But strangely enough, this might be the best thing to come out of it.

Let's be honest—we—and by that—I mean most people, don't always know, or care, about the difference between the opinion pages and the rest of the paper. That’s an academic discussion that gets thrown around by media geeks like me and those who are in or aspire to a certain class of society. And its force has blunted after decades of misuse.

And let's face it, the wall between the editorial board and the rest of the newsroom is paper-thin. The bias in one often seeps into the other. That confusion hurts journalism's credibility. And it has for a very long time. 

Besides, my local paper endorsed candidates for decades. Did anyone care? Well, they did back when we cared about the paper itself. That’s why I think we should focus on strengthening the other 364 days or so a year of content.

I think It time for newspapers to focus on unbiased reporting rather than pushing political agendas. 

Well not everyone thinks 

To the 200,000 people who unsubscribed from The Washington Post, cool. By all means, leave. It’s fine. You’re not required to pay Jeff Bezos.in fact he doesn't need your money or any one else's money. And I doubt it’ll hurt him at all. But if you’re this mad about the Post NOT telling you, that you should vote for Kamala Harris, you slow down, turn off the MSNBC, and ask yourself, did you really need them to tell you who to vote for?

I think you know the answer to that.

And if your answer is yes. We don't need to worry about democracy dying in darkness because it's already dead.

Here's my question for you: Do you think newspapers should endorse political candidates, or should they stick to straight news? And when was the last time a newspaper endorsement changed your vote?

For more of my thoughts, and to support my work visit jamesbrowntv.substack.com. On that note, I'm James Brown, and as always, be well.