The Seattle Times, one of the nation's few remaining family-owned-and-operated metro newspapers, has enthusiastically endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and raised questions about billionaire-owned newspapers refusing to endorse it.
“As one of the nation's few remaining family-owned and operated metro newspapers, The Seattle Times also appears to be one of the few whose editorial staff is willing to support presidential candidates,” they wrote in their Opinion section.
“This is incomprehensible, given that the other front-runner clearly threatens the foundations of our 248-year-old American democracy and the rule of law.”
They asked the question that haunts most thinking Americans: What is Donald Trump like? even in a position to destroy the country after “he instigated the January 6 uprising, after he was convicted of his crime and after a civil court ruled that he had committed sexual assault.”
The Seattle Times editorial attributes this in part to the loss of local newspapers, noting that “many of those that remain are low-quality products that seem to be milked by absentee mercenary investors.”
“The decisions appear to have been made by the billionaire owners, Jeff Bezos of The Washington Post and Patrick Son-Shiong of the Los Angeles Times. This led to protests and resignations in both newspapers. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the reasons were political divisions that wanted to allow voters to make up their own minds and restore public trust,” the Seattle Times wrote.
A pause here while we think about what Billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has struggled to let the once-priceless newspaper he bought endorse a presidential race. especially when the paper endorsed the ticket race.
Dr. Patrick Son-Shiong, the billionaire South African owner of the Los Angeles Times, also refused to let Vice President Harris get an endorsement, insisting he was trying to defuse bitter divisions over the election.
Do these billionaires assume that a presidential candidate threatening to use the military against American citizens to disagree with them is “perception of bias,” as Bezos disingenuously wrote, or “divisive,” as Son-Shiong claimed? If we are to believe their claims, their over-protected worldview makes a powerful argument that billionaires should be banned from owning a legitimate newspaper that aims to inform ordinary people about how politics and people affect them. on life.
The question is clear even for one's own staff. The staff writer of “Los Angeles Times” managed to publish. “The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post saw significant subscription cancellations in the days after their billionaire owners decided not to enter the presidential race after the editorial boards of both newspapers recommended supporting Vice. President Kamala Harris.”
The Seattle Times was having none of it.
At The Times, we have a wall between the newsroom and the newsroom. Editors do not ask news crews for their opinions, nor do we get involved in their coverage. We are making our report.”
“Trump has become shameless in his announcements of his plans and in his condemnation of so many Americans. He can only push the country back and endanger our nation.”
The Seattle Times endorsement is what you should expect from any newspaper you subscribe to. Newspapers should never obey in advance. They should tell the truth to the government.
Instead, other newspapers, such as the Gannett chains, USA Today and the conservative Detroit News, are also disapproving, arguing that they simply can't because no candidate was worthy. So the Detroit News thinks the man accused of inciting a deadly rebellion against the United States is the equal of a former prosecutor and current vice president with zero scandals on his record other than being a black woman, which is obviously a big one. It's the problem with some people that makes them unable to see him clearly, and that's why they fail to call him a socialist and a Marxist based on the debunked claims on Facebook. It's certainly not something a legal paper can fall for, but the Detroit News stands confused.
When smaller outlets like the Seattle Times (and us here at PoliticusUSA) can take a stand against autocracy with significantly fewer resources than these billionaires have, the threat becomes impossible to ignore. oligarchs who enable fascism in their own interests, as we see in Russia.
What greed, what greed, what cowardice we are witnessing.
But there are newspapers like the Seattle Times willing to take a stand. And there are so many people in this country who take a stand. Don't lose heart; instead, let these people and institutions that prove themselves unworthy of your support strengthen your resolve to leave it all behind. We deserve so much better than this.
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Sarah received President Barack Obama and then Vice President Joe Biden in 2016. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also repeatedly interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi and exclusively covered her first House appearance since then-President Donald Trump's first impeachment.
Sarah is a two-time award-winning video producer for Telly and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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