The second-largest owner of newspapers in the U.S. told readers this month that its papers’ opinion pages will no longer endorse presidential, Senate and gubernatorial candidates.
Alden Global Capital owns about 200 newspapers, including The Orange County Register, The Mercury News in the Bay Area, and the Chicago Tribune. (Gannett, which owns USA Today, is the No. 1 newspaper publisher.)
Alden’s reasons include increasingly acrimonious public discourse; worries that the endorsements don’t promote healthy public debate; and potential loss of trust in the papers’ journalism, as the online environment has confused readers about the difference between news and opinion.
The Union-Tribune’s Editorial Board has moved in the opposite direction. Led by Editorial and Opinion Director Matthew T. Hall, the team published 54 endorsements for the Nov. 8 election.
“I still firmly believe that newspaper endorsements have value,” Hall said. “They can help at a local level to cut through the partisan campaigning, especially by a board like ours that shares so much of its research and work. Our editorial board is a diverse group of San Diegans who are curious, thoughtful and well-informed about our region, who have access to the candidates and other experts who can help us get more educated and overcome our biases and blind spots.
“We have the luxury of time to go deep on any number of complex issues when many voters do not. Also, our board does not view elections through a partisan lens. We endorse Democrats, Republicans, independents, anyone who can show they have done, can do and will do the job. As a result, I don’t expect readers to agree with all our endorsements, but I hope that they will read and reflect on them, and make them a part of their information gathering process during an election, which let’s be real, can be a confusing exercise.
“Campaigns twist truths, bend facts, outright lie sometimes. We try to cut through that and share our entire process so people can judge the candidates and ballot measure advocates and opponents – and also judge our board. We hear from critics all the time, and from people who appreciate the effort.”
The Editorial Board also pumped out a huge amount of voting information on a variety of platforms. It held live Zoom forums on three San Diego City Council races and on San Diego’s Measure B trash pickup vote and in-person forums in a fourth council race, the Chula Vista mayor’s race and the sheriff’s race. It sent email surveys to dozens of candidates at all levels of government and published their answers in full. It ran essays on local ballot measures and state proposition campaigns. It published full video interviews and produced shorter versions for podcasts. It also did media literacy 101 segments on Instagram (@sdutopinion).
“The Instagram reels our community engagement specialist Bella Ross did are especially cool,” Hall said.
The editorial board endorsements can be found at sandiegouniontribune.com/2022endorsements. Hall said the editorial team will publish a grid with all the endorsements in the newspapers of Nov. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Election Q&As and essays can be found at sandiegouniontribune.com/2022electionguide
Recorded candidate interviews can be accessed at sandiegouniontribune.com/2022electionvideos
