Andy's absolutely right. The days when the politics of the day could turn on the spilled ink of a William Randolph Hearst or a Horace Greeley are long, long gone. It was a very interesting lesson in humility for me when, as City Editor of the Fairmont Sentinel some years back (1995, I think), a dismally small number of the candidates endorsed by me, the managing editor and the publisher -- the three of us comprising our newspaper's entire editorial board -- actually won anything. It was almost stunning, as though voters were using the newspaper as a kind of reverse barometer. (In fact, they probably just ignored us.) I still think these endorsements are important, but they seem to gain currency these days only when the candidate can afford to splash them on the TV screen as part of their televsion campaigning. They have little of the standalone power they once did, even at the most vaunted papers like the New York Times or (my current corporate bosses) The Washington Post.
Kevin Featherly Bloomington ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Driscoll" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 3:30 PM Subject: Re: [Mpls] The Strib's power > Not to confuse editorial with opinion. When it's the only newspaper in town, > people consult it for news. When it's pumping out its corporate agenda > through endorsements on the editorial pages, people may read them, but they > carry nowhere near the impact they once did. > > Big diff. > > Andy Driscoll > Saint Paul > ------ > "The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who, in times of > moral crisis, remain neutral" --Dante > > _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
