Bush receives more newspaper endorsements.
November 2, 2000 4:27 AM   Subscribe

Bush receives more newspaper endorsements. Also, editors are predicting a Bush win. While I wince and grimace at the thought of that man in office, I also think the editors are deluded in thinking they have much influence over their readers' voting habits.
posted by Mo Nickels (7 comments total)
 
Well at face value that sounds bad for Gore, but in almost every market Gore received the major paper's endorsement while Bush settled for the others. So, if we assume what really matters is the # of readers that the endorsement was seen by, which would only make sense, then Gore wins by a very large margin here.
posted by brian at 9:05 AM on November 2, 2000


Except in Chicago, where both big papers endorsed Bush.
posted by daveadams at 9:40 AM on November 2, 2000


Newspaper endorsements were important before the rise of radio and (especially) television, when the vast majority of the electorate couldn't hear the candidates speak for themselves. Now they seem more like a holdover from the glory days.
posted by harmful at 9:59 AM on November 2, 2000


According to Hunter S. Thompson in Shark Hunt, something like 70% of newspapers endorsed Nixon in 1972. Just an interesting factoid I try to keep in mind whenever people start talking about the media's liberal bias.
posted by snarkout at 10:01 AM on November 2, 2000


There is a threatened boycott of the Sun-Times (the traditional Democratic, and coincidentally horrible no-newspaper in Chicago) by black community groups over the paper's backing of Bush. Many wince inducing quotes were played on the TV and radio yesterday. Most comments basically said the paper had a responsibility to recommend Gore who is favored by the black readership who make up some 45% of total circulation. This argument is bogus, but advertisers might cave in to the mob anyway.
posted by thirteen at 10:04 AM on November 2, 2000


It'd be interesting to see a breakdown of those endorsements to see which conglomerates own which papers. After all, the days of the "independent" newspaper are long gone in most big markets.
posted by holgate at 10:18 AM on November 2, 2000


Scripps chooses one candidate for all of their papers. Each paper then runs the same editorial. They gave the nod to Bush. Here is a list of their papers. I doubt these things make much of an impact on who people vote for.
posted by iscavenger at 10:38 AM on November 2, 2000


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