Why do American Newspapers Publicly Endorse Election Candidates?

Why do American newspapers publicly endorse presidential election candidates?

* 124 newspapers, including the Washington Post, endorse Obama … 42 endorse McCain

* A more objective stance since the partisan press of early United States

* Articles reflect positions of all parties

* Newspapers actively express opinions through editorials and op-eds

Influential papers that drive American public opinion have one by one endorsed Barack Obama, including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune.

As each presidential election day nears, newspapers traditionally announce their endorsement of presidential candidates through the editorial page. These endorsements exercise considerable influence on public opinion by explaining what kind of leader the times require and why that candidate is closest to that role. Therefore, in addition to public opinion polls, which newspapers endorse which candidate is of great interest during presidential election years.

In this year’s American presidential election, while the gap in support between Democrat candidate Obama and Republican candidate McCain is still fluid, it seems that the overall trend in newspaper endorsements has shifted toward Obama. As of the 23rd, a total of 124 daily papers, including giants the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times, have endorsed Obama, greatly outnumbering the 42 papers that have endorsed McCain. While 24 papers that endorsed Bush in 2004 have now endorsed Obama, only 4 papers that endorsed Kerry have switched to McCain.

The Chicago Tribune’s endorsement of Obama on the 17th dealt a particularly big blow to McCain. The Chicago Tribune has had a deep relationship with the Republican Party: Joseph Medill, an influential managing editor of the paper during its early years, was a founding member of the Republican Party and a sponsor of Abraham Lincoln. Reflecting their dilemma, the editorial board in their endorsement basically said that “we like McCain, but we have no choice but to endorse Obama”. The endorsement concludes with the line, “We are proud to add Barack Obama’s name to Lincoln’s in the list of people the Tribune has endorsed for president of the United States.”

The practice of American papers endorsing presidential candidates began in the earliest days of the United States. Party-aligned press even served as the backdrop for the 1804 duel between Alexander Hamilton, appointed by President Washington as the first Secretary of the Treasury, and Aaron Burr, who was the vice president, that resulted in Hamilton’s death.

Not only did early papers dogmatically endorse certain parties, but it was also common for politicians themselves to own the papers. Hamilton and Burr were also major stakeholders of influential papers, and mustered the full resources of their respective papers to slander and attack each other, who were political rivals. Burr had grown resentful of Hamilton after he lost the presidency to Jefferson due to Hamilton’s obstruction.

Paradoxically, the highly partisan nature of the American media, strong until the early years of the 20th century, served as the breeding ground for objective journalism – an effort was begun to separate fact from opinion, and equally represent each party’s voice in articles, while confining opinions to editorials and op-eds.

Nonetheless, there still exist many cases in the American media in which opinions are mixed into reports about facts, or a balanced viewpoint gives way to a biased one. For example, the New York Post and Fox TV – both bought by Rupert Murdoch – reveal an anti-Democratic Party bias even in non-opinion pieces. The New York Post again endorsed McCain, and with a circulation of 700,000, is the largest of pro-McCain papers. In 2004, there was no big gap in the number of papers that endorsed Bush and Kerry, with 189 and 208 papers respectively. Bush won the actual election.

The influential papers of America decide their endorsements based not on their relations with the current administration or the candidate, but rather based on the qualifications and policies of the candidates. Even if the candidate that the paper endorsed loses in the election, the paper’s image does not suffer. The New York Times and the Washington Post have endorsed the Democratic candidate in the last two elections, and despite the endorsed candidates’ losses, the reputation of the papers are not known to have suffered.