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Thursday 27 OcTOber 2022
Once key, U.S. newspaper editorial endorsements fade away

Continued from Front it would make endorse- state of Iowa.
ments in “competitive and If Rubio were running for
At a time when newspapers notable” races where it president now, Conant
are scratching for readers, could conduct extensive said, he wouldn’t bother
executives wonder wheth- research and interviews, with it.
er they should bother. North Carolina Opinion Edi- Hunter said it hasn’t been
“Picking a candidate in this tor Peter St. Onge wrote in decided whether the Reg-
environment may alien- a column. ister would endorse anyone
ate more readers than it Many news organizations running for president in the
persuades,” the New York simply have fewer people 2024 caucuses. A lot will
Daily News wrote in an- to do the work. Sixty per- depend on access to the
nouncing the new policy, cent of journalists work- candidates, she said.
which means the tabloid ing at newspapers in the In the book “News Hole,”
will sit out the governor’s United States have lost jobs University of Virginia pro-
race between Democrat since 2005, Abernathy said. fessor Jennifer Lawless and
Kathy Hochul and Republi- A woman votes in the presidential primary election at the the Staffing is indeed an issue George Washington Uni-
can Lee Zeldin. Summit View Church of the Nazarene in Kansas City, Mo., on at the Register, Hunter said. versity’s Daniel Hayes show
Of the country’s 100 biggest March 10, 2020. The newspaper is unable how congressional candi-
newspapers by circulation, Associated Press to cover the state’s federal dates are getting much less
92 endorsed a presidential ways to be respectful in than 220 newspapers to delegation the way it used news coverage than they
candidate in 2008. By 2020, a formal editorial. Make cut back on national opin- to, and wants to devote re- used to.
only 54 made a choice, ac- a point, but not in a con- ion and focus on local is- sources to local news, she That’s also the case for
cording to UCSB. There’s no descending or dismissive sues. The Des Moines Reg- said. many elections further
such reliable accounting way.” ister’s opinion pages, for Many politicians view the down the ballot, for local
in smaller races. But given In an internal memo ear- example, now run twice a dwindling state of endorse- judge or school board,
that there are 2,500 fewer lier this year, leaders of the week. The Register is be- ments with a collective where endorsements had
newspapers in the U.S. than Gannett newspaper chain ing selective in its choices shrug. News organizations been one of the few places
there were in 2005, it stands noted that editorials were this fall, weighing in on the were once seen as objec- to learn about candidates.
to reason there are a lot frequently cited as a reason Iowa governor’s race and tive, but Republican con- In many cases, these rac-
fewer endorsements. people canceled subscrip- a referendum on guns. But sultant Alex Conant said es are now nationalized:
That absence “is yet an- tions. Surveys said opinion the state’s top newspaper many voters his candidates Voters are left to evaluate
other loss for grassroots de- pages were among their won’t endorse in federal are trying to reach consider candidates as extensions
mocracy,” said Penelope least-read content, and races, including U.S. Sen. newspapers as partisan as of national parties instead
Muse Abernathy, a North- tied to problems in credibil- Chuck Grassley’s bid for an politicians. of as neighbors, Abernathy
western University professor ity and trust. eighth term. “Editorial boards used to said.
who catalogs the decline Some readers have difficul- The McClatchy newspaper be an important validator,” Advertisements — often
in local news. ty distinguishing between chain also didn’t ban presi- Conant said. “But they’re filled with disinformation
At a time of unpopularity news and opinion, or flat- dential endorsements. But it not that important any — become the primary
for the press, many people out don’t believe that a said the newspapers would more.” source of information, she
don’t like being told what paper’s editorial stance not make a choice in races When he was running said. By contrast, Ameri-
to do, said Poynter Institute doesn’t affect its news cov- where its editors could not Marco Rubio’s presiden- can Presidency Project co-
media business analyst Rick erage, said Hunter, whose interview candidates — ef- tial campaign in 2016, Co- director John Woolley said,
Edmonds. Iowa newspaper is owned fectively putting it out of nant encouraged his client newspaper endorsements
For the newspapers, by Gannett. the business of presidential to meet with the editorial “are a good thing in that
“there’s a little bit of ‘don’t Gannett didn’t ban po- endorsements. board at the Register, the they model how to think,
rock the boat’ there,” Ed- litical endorsements, but One of its newspapers, the dominant newspaper in and clarify to people what
monds said. “There are strongly advised its more Charlotte Observer, said the crucial early caucus the big issues are.”q

Trump to rally in Iowa ahead of Nov. 8

as he teases 2024

lican Gov. Kim Reynolds ing sequence, would likely need much of a boost from
and Sen. Chuck Grassley, further stoke speculation Trump. Gov. Kim Reynolds,
Trump’s organization an- of Trump’s future. who has swamped her
nounced Wednesday. “In order to make our Democratic challenger
The event, set for Nov. 3 country successful, safe in fundraising and leads
in Sioux City, the hub of and glorious again, I will comfortably in polls, is
Iowa’s conservative north- probably have to do it heavily favored to win her
west, comes as Trump has again,” Trump said in Rob- second full term.
continued to tease interest stown, Texas, on Oct. 22. Though seven-term Repub-
in a White House come- The Iowa event is part of lican Sen. Chuck Grassley
back campaign as he has Trump’s rally tour in the appears to be facing his
Former President Donald Trump throws hats to supporters at a campaigned around the home stretch of the 2022 most serious challenge for
rally, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, in Robstown, Texas. country for Republican campaign. reelection, the 89-year-old
Associated Press candidates. Returning to It is also expected to in- still leads in a race where
By THOMAS BEAUMONT ald Trump is scheduled to Iowa, where the 2024 Re- clude stops in Pennsylva- national Democrats have
Associated Press return to Iowa ahead of publican presidential cau- nia and Ohio. spent no money advertis-
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) the Nov. 8 midterms, to cuses are scheduled to Republican candidates ing on behalf of retired Ad-
— Former President Don- headline a rally for Repub- launch the GOP nominat- in Iowa don’t appear to miral Michael Franken.q