What it means when national newspapers won’t endorse a presidential candidate

Turns out, voters who have democracy in their shopping carts also like fair, balanced endorsements of political candidates.

How else to explain that, in the days since Washington Post (and Amazon) owner Jeff Bezos spiked the newspaper's endorsement of Kamala Harris, more than a quarter-million readers have canceled their digital subscriptions?

"If there is something upbeat about this, it's that this made the news-that people are more aware of the inner workings of journalism under corporate leadership, and the struggles journalists face in this environment," said Vicky Sama, an associate teaching professor of journalism in the College of Media, Communication and Information at CU Boulder.

Sama, a First Amendment expert who covered war, elections and cartels in Latin America as a producer with CNN before moving into teaching, studies press freedom, media education and ethics, and similar topics. She said she was surprised, if not shocked, by the brazenness with which the wealthy businessmen who own the Post and Los Angeles Times squashed their papers' endorsements in the days before Election Day.

"Typically, the press is worried about how the government might impede its freedoms to report and obtain access," Sama said. "But in this case, we're dealing with the corporate boss. To have that resistance come from within your own company is quite concerning."

The effect an endorsement has on a candidate's performance in the polls isn't always clear, but those editorials play an important role in helping readers understand the context around important issues of the day.

That's especially true in this election cycle, Sama said, as journalists have struggled to label and describe Donald Trump accurately while acting as gatekeepers against a flood of digitally driven disinformation.

"Someone needs to sift through all of the weeds and tell us what's really going on, and for most newspapers, that's the opinion pages," she said. "The editorial sections of newspapers serve a critical role in our democracy by offering explanation, by giving context, by telling you, you should worry about this. You should be concerned about this."

Most consumers of news know there's a firewall separating the business and reporting sides of the house. The opinion pages, too, live independently from the newsgathering operation, but the same journalistic principles and ethics apply. When extremely wealthy owners like Bezos or Patrick Soon-Shiong, of the Los Angeles Times, kill these kinds of pieces, it calls into question how the publication can remain an independent watchdog.

"Bezos isn't following journalism principles," Sama said. "He saved the Post when he bought it in 2013, but he doesn't know the practice of journalism. He's a businessman."

The great irony in all this, Sama said, is that both papers' support for Harris was all but assured, based on already published opinion coverage warning of the danger Trump poses to democracy.

"The fact that they killed their endorsements for Kamala Harris made it a bigger story than if they actually went ahead and endorsed her," she said. "This turned almost a nonstory into an issue that's been covered by media critics for a week now, and literally across the country."

A savvy journalist probably would have seen that coming. It's one reason Sama would relish the idea of having Bezos visit one of her classes, which cover media law, ethics and key principles of reporting.

"I would love to show him something about the ethics and principles of journalism, and make him understand, from the journalist's side, what the impacts are when a wealthy business owner gets involved in newsroom decisions," she said.

"But of course, money talks-and if he's going to lose billions of dollars by saying the wrong thing about Trump, I don't think any principles will make him understand what's at stake beyond his bottom line."

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