‘We simply choose … the person in each race we believe most likely to do the right thing.’
Margaret Sullivan: Political endorsements provide a reality check
The Buffalo News, its critics will be quick to tell you, is one of those ultra-liberal newspapers. Its editorial page is way left of center and it hasn’t endorsed a Republican for any office since William Howard Taft.
Right? (Or shall I say, “correct”?) Well, not so fast. A reality check is available in this year’s political endorsements. In advance of Tuesday’s general election, The News has endorsed significantly more Republicans than Democrats.
In the 10 active County Legislature races, we are endorsing eight Republicans and two Democrats.
In the Amherst supervisor’s race, we are endorsing a Republican, Barry Weinstein.
And in the two countywide races, we are endorsing one Republican and one Democrat: respectively, Philip Kadet for comptroller and John Glascott for sheriff.
So, of the 13 endorsements we’ll make this year, 10 go to Republicans.
Is that the way the editorial page of a liberal newspaper ought to be behaving?
“People find it hard to believe, but we really don’t pay a lot of attention to party affiliation when we’re considering whom to endorse,” says Editorial Page Editor Michael N. Vogel.
The endorsements are made by the editorial board, which includes the paper’s publisher, editor, editorial page editor and two editorial writers. After discussion that is sometimes spirited, we strive for consensus and almost always reach it.
Rather than party affiliation ruling the day, Vogel says, “we simply choose, based on our research, questioning and knowledge, the person in each race we believe most likely to do the right thing.”
The correct thing, that is.
•••
Newspaper circulation figures came out last week and, much as I’d like to, it’s hard to view them positively. While a few papers around the country saw circulation gains, most papers had substantial decreases— and some of those decreases are downright scary. The San Francisco Chronicle, the worst of the lot, lost 25 percent of its circulation, year over year, and the average circulation loss in the nation was more than 10 percent. The venerable Boston Globe lost 18 percent.
Compared to the national average, The Buffalo News is holding fairly steady on circulation. Our losses are in the low to mid single digits, and a significant amount of that loss is due to strategic decisions to reduce distribution where it matters less to local advertisers — for example, to hotels. Weekday circulation is down more than Sunday; that reflects a price increase early this year for single copies of the weekday paper.
Meanwhile, and perhaps paradoxically, our overall readership has increased. The News’ Web site attracted 1.8 million “unique users” in September, up dramatically from 1 million in the same month two years ago, and 1.3 million in 2008. That’s true across the country for many newspapers and their online editions.
Everyone is scrambling to figure out how to turn all of this radical change into a business model that can be sustained well into the future.
One big experiment is taking place at Newsday, the large and respected newspaper on Long Island. Last week, it ended free access to its Web site, and began charging online readers who do not subscribe to the print edition.
You can be sure that Newsday’s efforts are being watched closely across the country.
It’s an uncertain time.
The only real certainty is that we must find a way. With its crucial watchdog role in society, newspaper journalism, whether delivered digitally or in ink-on-paper form, must be saved.
I’m confident that The Buffalo News—with no debt, committed ownership, reasonably stable circulation and continuing (though diminished) profitability—will find a way.
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