Hey, this is my newspaper and I know how conservative it is...believe me, this is big news here. After a century of presidential endorsements (straight repuke since 1968) the much-anticipated endorsement announcement came as a pleasant surprise to me. Since being bought by E.W. Scripps the ARN has taken part in an "endorsement pool" in which all the editors of Scripps-owned newspapers would vote for the candidate which the company would unanimously endorse. They endorsed shrub in 2000 but today my weary eyes were popped open by this surprise announcement...
"No, the reason I voted to end it brings me to explain the end of another tradition. The Reporter-News will no longer - as long as I am editor - endorse anyone for president."
<snip>
"The presumption of an endorsement is that the folks writing the endorsement have some special knowledge. In the case of local elections, even state elections, that might be true. Typically, candidates are invited to spend an hour or two in an ''off-the-record'' conversation with members of the editorial board, in a dialogue that yields insight and perspective that can't be had simply by reading news stories, watching television commercials or even attending speeches.
Last spring, our editorial board spent endless hours talking to the candidates for the school board and the City Council. Our endorsements were informed by those interviews as well as the many debates, news stories and events we were able to attend. We endorsed U.S. Rep. Charlie Stenholm, D-Abilene, last Sunday for the 19th Congressional District seat because our board did have special knowledge of him, gained through our own one-on-one - or more accurately, 10-on-one - two-hour conversation with him. (Sadly, U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Lubbock, said his schedule didn't allow time for him to do similarly.)
Newspapers of our size don't rate those kinds of visits from presidential candidates. If we were to endorse a presidential candidate, it would be based on our reading and viewing of the candidates from a distance. We would filter that information through our philosophical prisms. That doesn't make our opinion any more special than yours. An endorsement would merely affirm your views or contradict them. It wouldn't inform intellectually. And I doubt it would have any impact at the polls.
What matters is that we all make informed choices. Choices made by ignoring television commercials and instead made by reading and studying. The members of our editorial board and I have no credentials better than yours. For that reason, we concluded presidential endorsements by newspapers amount to a certain arrogance. We choose not to be arrogant.
What really matters, of course, is that we all vote. That's a tradition that should never end.
P.S. - If you need a ride to the polls, call me. I'll see to it that you get there to vote - for whomever you choose."http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/op_columns/article/0,1874,ABIL_7981_3276747,00.htmlregistration requiredTrust me folks, this is a "feel good" day for Dems in Abilene! :D
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
