This is not an editorial exhorting you to get out and vote. We’ve done that. And we’ll probably take another stab at it before voting day.
It is also not an editorial telling you who to vote for. We don’t believe in endorsements — although for many newspapers it’s part of the election campaign process.
We think it’s mighty arrogant of newspapers to try and use their clout (what little they may have left) to support a candidate — left, right, centre or in between.
Do readers really need a newspaper to tell them who to vote for? And after a newspaper endorses a candidate and/or party, what responsibility does that newspaper have in continuing coverage of their “endorsed” candidate?
Plumping for one’s guy (or gal) seems to be taking advantage of a newspaper’s credibility. And, in our opinion, it also diminishes that same credibility. It would be reasonable for readers to ask just how a newspaper could benefit from such an endorsement.
Newspapers and journalists are facing increasing questions about their credibility and bias. It seems to us that a newspaper endorsing a candidate only amplifies those concerns.
Yes, newspapers are not clinical, scientific devices. They are staffed by human beings who, by their very natures, have biases. We try not to have those biases impact our decisions. And we clearly label opinion pieces when we do enter the fray.
We also try to make sure that as many voices and viewpoints as possible appear in these pages, and on our website.
We get heck from all sides in elections — and that, we believe, is a good thing.
We’re not going to tell you who to vote for, but we will say that it is almost always better to trust one’s own thinking than follow someone else’s.
At least then you have only yourself to blame if you’ve picked the wrong candidate.
