The Pioneer Press has opted not to give endorsements this year.
I suspect – and this is just a, er, shot in the dark on my part, pure speculation – that there are one or two reasons for this:
- The Pioneer Press has figured out that press endorsements are just another form of bandwagoneering unbecoming a “journalistic” entity. While the Pioneer Press’ endorsement record is a lot more bipartisan than the Strib’s, a record (generally, across the media, not just at the Pioneer Press) of mostly-DFL endorsements provides prime ammunition for the charge that the press is biased to the left.
- They were facing the prospect of having to not endorse Betty McCollum. The long-time DFL Congresswoman has been such an incredible non-entity, and has developed into such a rancorously partisan figure in Congress, that a significant part of the editorial board decided not to endorse. After a fierce battle with the rest of the board, and facing backlash from a pro-DFL staff, the paper decided to just avoid the whole mess.
Again, the above is purely speculation. It’s only if I were to joke about or mock the ideas above that they would be ensured of being proven correct. [1]
Rather than endorsing 2nd CD representative John Kline, they opt merely to write about how completely he’s dominated the district, but how redistricting might make Mike Obermueller’s DFL bid a little more tenable than whoever it was that ran last time.
[1] Statutory notice under the Satire Labelling Act of 2007: This sentence is hyperbole.
Interesting and intriguing question, Mitch! If the Red Star follows suit, I will buy a copy of it every day for a week. Somehow though, I don’t believe for a minute that they will.
Their subscription research has likely indicated that many conservatives cancel after the PiPress endorse yet another stable of liberals. It’s one of the reasons I cancelled the Red Star. In decades past, their egos could take the ideological “hit” of losing a few insignificant conservatives having a snit.
When you subscriber universe is shrinking, it makes no sense to alienate any of your customers.
Great point, Big! I have noticed a lot more of the Red Star’s kiosks around town trying to drum up subscribers. When I pass one, I always make it a point to tell the person manning them why I won’t subscribe.
The PiP might figure the old addage applies that once you loose a customer you are as likely as not to never get them back. I believe the Strib will end up having to close it’s doors before they understand. In the dead tree media these papers have little competition, in what might be reffered to as the “alt” media they have a ton of competition.
“When you subscriber universe is shrinking, it makes no sense to alienate any of your customers.”
^^This. I cancelled the Pioneer Press because I did not like their editorial slant. They can’t afford to lose more subscribers. In our polarized political world endorsement means alienating about half the readers.
I get chest pains writing this, Sanity, but I kinda agree.