Newspaper Endorsements

On October 28, 2012 on This Week with George Stephanopoulos it was brought up that the Des Moines Register, the largest paper in Iowa who hadn’t endorsed a Republican since Richard Nixon in 1972 - had endorsed Mitt Romney saying: Barack Obama…with a theme of hope and change…A different reality has marked his presidency. His record on the economy the past 4 years does not suggest that he would lead in the direction the nation must go in the next 4 years.

Contrary to the Des Moines Register the Chicago Tribune endorsed Obama saying - "…Romney advocates less spending, less borrowing -- overall, a less costly and less intrusive role for government in the lives of the governed" but the Tribune concluded that he had been "astonishingly willing to bend his views to the politics of the moment: on abortion, on immigration, on gun laws and, most famously, on healthcare." I found plenty of articles citing which papers were endorsing Obama as well as those endorsing Romney; some even show which ones changed positions - Democrat to Republican as well as Republican to Democrat. Some newspapers that endorsed candidates in 2008 decided not to pick anyone this year and several that did endorse Romney expressed the hope that, if elected, he would turn out to be the moderate Romney, not the "severe" conservative he presented himself to be in the Republican primaries. As of October 27 Editor & Publisher, considered the longtime bible of the newspaper business, showed there were 112 newspapers for Romney and 84 for President Obama; the list didn't include papers from Sunday when many deliver their endorsements (in 2008 E&P's final tally showed daily newspapers endorsing Obama over Republican John McCain by 296 to 180).

The Los Angeles Times, for what it's worth, endorsed Obama and followed up with an explanation from Editor Nick Goldberg of why the newspaper endorses anyone at all given its mandate to be nonpartisan and unbiased in its news articles. There was a reminder that the paper’s first endorsement, in 1884, was for Republican James G. Blaine. Who you say? Republican incumbent Chester Alan Arthur lost the nomination to Blaine and Democrat Grover Cleveland won the election. In my opinion the Des Moines Register is making the same poor endorsement as it did when it endorsed Nixon who had one of the most corrupt administrations in US history; it is picking Romney’s budget plan that has been debunked by economists and recently by the CEOs of major US companies over the health and welfare of the people. All of this only substantiates my position that the news media can provide bad information, ignite fires and make poor decisions like ordinary people, perhaps it’s because of our poor education system.