Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Why we’re still talking about endorsements

Two newspapers strike a nerve

The media landscape has changed a lot in recent decades, and one tradition is falling by the wayside this campaign season: newspaper editorial boards' presidential endorsements. In today's newsletter, Hannah Miller provides some context. Plus: What the chef at Noma is planning once the world-famous restaurant closes next year. If this email was forwarded to you, click here to sign up.

Last week, twin revelations—that the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times had each, separately, chosen not to endorse a presidential candidate in the 2024 election—shocked readers and media observers.

It wasn't just that the policy changed quickly, but that editorials had been planned and drafts written before being shelved, ostensibly at the request of their respective billionaire owners. The fallout continues: There have been resignations of editors (including Pulitzer Prize winners) at both papers and canceled subscriptions. NPR reported that by midday on Monday over 200,000 people had abandoned their Washington Post digital subscriptions in protest, more than 8% of their total subscribers.

But the decline of newspaper political endorsements is nothing new. Regional publications owned by Alden Global Capital, Gannett and McClatchy Newspapers have all pulled back from the practice in recent years. Even the New York Times, which endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in September, said in August that it would no longer issue endorsements in local elections.

The Los Angeles Times building in El Segundo, California.  Photographer: Kirby Lee/Getty Images North America

But the Post's and LA Times' decisions hold much higher stakes and could be a death knell for presidential endorsements at major newspapers. The Post announced its decision less than two weeks before an election that has roughly the same odds as a coin flip. Both papers are owned by billionaires who've been criticized for protecting their own interests and bending the knee to the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, who's frequently ridiculed the news media for being biased against him.

For Post owner and Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, the paper's decision seems like a shocking reversal. He famously tussled with Trump during his first campaign and presidency, accusing Trump of "eroding our democracy" and acting inappropriately as a presidential candidate in 2016. Trump constantly linked his outrage at the Post's negative coverage of his presidency to Bezos, and his criticism of Amazon's dependence on the US Postal Service for deliveries hurt the online retailer's stock price in 2018. Amazon also filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense alleging that Trump's bias against the company caused it to lose out on a $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon.

Bezos' battle wounds from Trump could be the reason his paper chose not to run the endorsement it had planned for Harris. He also has another business to shelter from Trump's wrath: his space exploration company Blue Origin, which has government contracts.

Bezos. Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images North America

In a Post Opinion piece on Monday, Bezos wrote that the decision was based on principles, rather than business interests. He pointed to the declining credibility of the media and said presidential endorsements create perceptions of bias and non-independence. "I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it," he wrote. "That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy."

Bezos' piece echoed some of what William Lewis, the chief executive officer and publisher of the Post, wrote on Friday when he said that the paper was returning to a past tradition of not making presidential endorsements and fulfilling its job of providing unbiased news. LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, who made his fortune in biotech, said in a social media post that instead of an endorsement, he had asked the paper's editorial board to draft a factual analysis of policies from both candidates, providing "clear and non-partisan information," but that the board chose not to. He also dismissed claims from his daughter that the decision was politically motivated against Harris. Despite this push toward nonpartisanship, both papers chose to endorse 2024 political candidates in other races.

At the end of the day, newspaper political endorsements are typically performative in nature and aren't expected to change voters' minds, according to Adam Penenberg, an associate professor of journalism at New York University. But he says their symbolic importance means that these newspapers' decision not to endorse a presidential candidate triggered outrage for many readers, including his wife, who chose to cancel her Post subscription.

The absence of the Post's and LA Times' presidential endorsements has perhaps brought even more attention and calamity to these papers than backing Harris would have. Penenberg says the lack of an endorsement tapped into people's fear that these papers are too beholden to their billionaire owners, and that "they're going to sell out their readers and they're going to sell out their reporters because the rich person makes the decision."

In Brief

One of the World's Top Chefs Plans What's Next

Redzepi. Source: Ditte Isager

It's been six years since the food world's most famous, brightest names assembled in Copenhagen to plot the future of their industry. But on May 25, chef René Redzepi and the nonprofit organization MAD will reconvene them for the return of its seminal symposium. What's more, the chef says, the event's theme also reveals the future he envisions for his famed restaurant, Noma, which he's said would close for good in 2025.

"First Covid, then huge inflation which created huge problems and bankruptcies and division in the restaurant world, I wanted to see how can we come together," Redzepi tells Bloomberg exclusively about why he's resurrecting the MAD Symposium, which was started by the nonprofit MAD organization in 2011 in a bright red circus tent on Copenhagen's waterfront. The two-day event for 600 people features talks, demos and seminars, and, not least, the opportunity to connect. Although chefs are the most notable attendees, there's a wide range of participants from scientists to botanists and environmentalists.

The theme of this year's MAD is Build to Last, says Redzepi, putting an emphasis on the present tense. "This year will be about how we plan with a long-term vision."

The event is designed to address some of the restaurant community's biggest issues from financial pressures to social reckoning movements like #MeToo and mental and physical health concerns; past themes have included Tomorrow's Kitchen, which focused on the future of cooking, and Mind the Gap, which addressed gender issues.

"We'll focus on how do we create resilient business, how do we stay healthy and creative over the course of our careers, how can we work with food to ensure a healthy planet," says Melina Shannon DiPietro, executive director of MAD, of this year's symposium. "There will be so many smart, incredibly driven people, we have real opportunity here."

Past symposiums have had a pronounced influence on the mainstream dining world. This one, Kate Krader writes, will be important to Redzepi's flagship, too: Rene Redzepi Reveals the Future of World's Best Restaurant Noma

A Diversity Benefit

$520,000
That's the size of the bonus American Airlines CEO Robert Isom took home for boosting diversity at the company last year. For all the pushback against corporate DEI programs for allegedly discriminating against White men, it turns out the policies have been lucrative for some of the most powerful among them.

Swing States

"They're New York Republicans who are used to having abortion rights in their state. It's a different type of Republican Party down here in the South."
Anderson Clayton
North Carolina Democratic Party chairperson
The presidential election could be decided in the fast-growing suburbs of the Tar Heel State—where Democrats are working for a flip but are wary of pinning their hopes on newcomers.

More From Bloomberg

Like Businessweek Daily? Check out these newsletters:

  • Business of Space for inside stories of investments beyond Earth
  • CFO Briefing for what finance leaders need to know
  • CityLab Daily for today's top stories, ideas and solutions from cities around the world
  • Tech Daily for exclusive reporting and analysis on tech and AI
  • Green Daily for the latest in climate news, zero-emission tech and green finance

Explore all newsletters at Bloomberg.com.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Power Trends+: What to Expect After the Election, And Three Highly Rated Stocks

  October 29, 2024 Power Trends+: What to Expect After the Election, And Three Highly Rated Stocks With the el...