Democracy Dies In Dumbness
For those of we journalists who were inspired by the Washington Post’s outstanding reporting on Watergate and for your agent who spent seven years on the Ottawa Citizen editorial board, the decision by the Post not to make a decision on a U.S. presidential candidate is an outrage.
No … it is an OUTRAGE.
The Post’s editorial position is wrong … dead wrong … not even close. The Post’s editorial board encourages people to vote no doubt and yet the board did not cast its most important vote.
A disgusting day for journalism … at least what is left of it. And given what we have just seen, what’s left of it has lost its moral centre:
Statement on Washington Post’s refusal to endorse presidential candidate. pic.twitter.com/r8jrMPW5GR
— Carl Bernstein (@carlbernstein) October 26, 2024
For You:
Benn ‘Spot On The Mark’: Community Group
City PR Too Big, Journalists Too Small
Many Thanks To Applewood Acres Group
Bookmark The Bulldog, click here
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
Reporters must……. GATHER the news……..REPORT the facts only. ……and keep their opinions to themselves
The Public must……..HEAR the news,,…….BE GIVEN basic facts …….and make their own decisions.
Elon Musk took a stance (like it or not) so why is Jeff Bezos hiding? What is his motivation? It’s not like people are going to suddenly abandon Amazon.
Sisco,
Technically, given the much-touted principle of editorial independence, Bezos shouldn’t have much say in an editorial endorsement. This is on the editorial board, not the owner.
When their previous work has called into question the suitability and qualifications of Trump to be president, their choice not to make an endorsement speaks volumes. Do they foresee and fear a Trump victory and are trying to keep themselves off his famous “Day One” revenge list of any person or organization that ‘done him wrong’? If that’s the case, they’ve gone chicken instead of standing up for integrity in journalism. How, then, can you trust them in the future? A news organization has to have the trust of its readers/watchers and, without it, won’t maintain its respected position for very long.
By not taking a stand one way or another, they are saying they’re fine with either choice. This is no longer the paper that exposed Watergate; no longer the paper of Ben Bradlee or of Woodward and Bernstein. They’ve lost their backbone. Very, very sad. If they won’t stand up to Donald Trump, who will?
The Voter:
The editorial board represents the publisher.
He can override a decision of the ed board but usually do not.
The except at our place was on elections.
I’d suggest it was Bezos but I have no way of knowing for sure.
cheers
kgray
Diane:
Were it so easy.
cheers
kgray
Ken,
Seems I spoke too soon. Having gotten a clearer idea of what went on at the Post, I’m changing my stance. It appears that the editorial board had an endorsement for Kamala Harris ready to go and it was “spiked”. Bezos and other companies he owns have their fingerprints all over this.
From The Guardian: “… executives from his aerospace company met with Donald Trump on the same day the newspaper prevented its editorial team from publishing an endorsement of his opponent in the US presidential election.” … “And the Post on Friday announced it would not endorse a candidate in the 5 November election after its editorial board had already drafted its endorsement of Kamala Harris.”
The paper has subsequently lost subscriptions as people are cancelling in response to the non-endorsement and how it happened. The Post’s publisher is claiming he’s the one who pulled the endorsement but it appears few believe him. Robert Kagan, the Post editor-at-large, resigned on Friday saying that Trump waited until after the announcement that there would be no endorsement before sitting down with the aerospace company execs which he believes draws a line directly between the two events.
An opinion piece by 19 Post columnists opposing the non-endorsement has 11K+ comments, many of whom say they’ve cancelled their subscriptions and some of which are suggesting the 19 should be resigning on principle. I imagine if Trump gets elected, he’ll be telling Bezos these 19 have to go.
Will Lewis, the publisher, and Bezos rue the day? One can only hope.
The Voter:
It’s a nasty piece of work. Newspapers get by through a pact of trust between the reader and the publication.
How can you trust a publication that can’t rule out a felon.
cheers
kgray