黑洞社区

This 黑洞社区 Newsline Podcast is available at . See transcript below.

You鈥檙e listening to the podcast edition of the 黑洞社区 audio newsline. Learn more about 黑洞社区 鈥� the home of Thinkers, Doers, Movers and Shockers 鈥� on the Web at .

As Election Day nears, newspapers traditionally endorse political candidates. Some think that candidate endorsements are an exercise in vanity. But others see real value in endorsements, especially at the local level, as 黑洞社区 print journalism associate professor and former newspaper editor Les Anderson explains.

Anderson: "I think endorsements do matter, particularly at the local or community level when you're talking school board or city council or county commission, and even state legislative races, I think people look to newspapers as a source of information for those races."

Anderson explains why newspapers traditionally endorse political candidates.

Anderson: "I think traditionally newspapers have, going back years and years, were looked to as the source for all information. It's before the advent of TV, before anything we have that's an electronic media form now, and newspapers were the source."

While Anderson believes that newspapers should continue to print endorsements, he says there's something even more important that newspapers need to do.

Anderson: "I believe strongly in endorsements, but I also believe even more strongly in newspapers providing adequate information leading up to endorsements, and that includes consistent coverage on the issues, on the candidates throughout the year."

Anderson expresses concern about the growing trend of newspapers discontinuing the practice of endorsing candidates.

Anderson: "I think today a lot of newspapers are afraid to go out on a limb one way or the other. It's easy to endorse somebody in an area where you agree with the majority of the people. What's tough is when you don't agree. And I think there's pressure from advertisers today, and with newspapers cutting staffs, I think it puts more and more work on people. It's spread out, and endorsements may be the last thing that they get to."

Admittedly, not all newspaper endorsements are going to have a big impact in every case. Anderson explains.

Anderson: "I don't think endorsements matter when it's a given necessarily. It's not that newspapers shouldn't endorse then, but if you're in a heavy Republican or Democrat area, an endorsement may just be an afterthought. It's sort of like in Kansas, if you know endorsing a Republican is a gimme because of the Republican base here. But very few people are going to go outside of the base and endorse the opposite party, no matter what that party is."

If newspapers do their homework and spend time with candidates running for office, they can do a real public service, according to Anderson.

Anderson: "I think what's crucial to a newspaper doing endorsements is that newspaper staff spend time with these candidates, to interview them in person, to do background checks, to check on what they are espousing. It's important for them to have that background before they endorse, so it's not just based strictly on party or beliefs."

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, says it is "part of a newspaper's role to provide leadership" on the political races "that have the least amount of coverage."

He says dentists are busy being dentists and gardeners are busy being gardeners. It's not your job to sit down at 11 in the morning and hash it out around a table and write that argument out.

That, Rosenstiel says, is what editorial writers have the luxury of doing for the rest of us.

"And we can then look at those arguments and say, 'Those guys are idiots' or 'That's a pretty good argument.' "

Thanks for listening. Until next time, this is Joe Kleinsasser for 黑洞社区.