Cleveland Plain Dealer owner overrides editorial board

Cleveland 'Plain Dealer' Decides to Not Decide
By Shawn Moynihan
Published: October 26, 2004 9:45 AM EDT
NEW YORK

Discussions at the Cleveland Plain Dealer to resolve an impasse between the paper's editorial board and its publisher about who to endorse for president have ended with a Tuesday morning editorial announcing the paper would back neither Bush nor Kerry.

"We believe our readers are perfectly capable of making an informed, rational decision by their own lights," the editorial concludes, "and we strongly urge them to do so."

The paper's editorial board, as E&P first revealed, decided last week that it wanted to endorse Sen. John Kerry, but Publisher Alex Machaskee, who has final say, prefers President George W. Bush. The paper backed Bush in 2000.

Indeed, this morning's editorial confirms, "A majority of the editorial board favored Kerry, but after long and difficult deliberations, it was decided that the better path would be to sit this one out." It does not mention Machaskee's role in this.

"We believe our readers are perfectly capable of judging" Bush's conduct as president, the editorial declared, "and deciding whether Bush's flaws bother them more than Kerry's ambiguities."

Shirley Steinman, the Plain Dealer's director of community affairs, insisted Monday that the paper had not yet chosen a candidate for endorsement and that a decision would be made "later this week," but the editorial ran a few hours later.

Since Sunday, the Plain Dealer had been deluged with e-mails, according to three sources. The e-mails, noted Brent Larkin, the Plain Dealer's editorial page editor, came not just from readers, but from all over the country.

When asked whether public opinion had any bearing on the paper's decision process in choosing a candidate, Larkin responded, "Not even a little bit."

In this unusually divisive election, many other newspaper boards have been split down the middle. Some have chosen not to endorse at all, while in other cases the publisher stepped in and cast the only vote that counted.

Tuesday editorial opened with: "In a year of deep political divisions, this newspaper's opinion section is experiencing deep divisions of its own." However, according to several sources, the editorial board clearly favored Kerry.

When asked Monday afternoon how negotiations were going between the editorial board and Machaskee, Larkin said, "'Negotiations' is not the right word. We're all in this together."

Regardless of the paper's choice, "It's exciting no matter what," said Plain Dealer Metro Columnist Regina Brett, who noted that the Cleveland community is buzzing about the paper's impending endorsement. "People in Cleveland are really solid readers of the paper," she noted.

If Machaskee deflected the Plain Dealer editorial board's choice, it reportedly won't be the first time: In the 2002 gubernatorial race, according to Plain Dealer insiders, Machaskee decided the newspaper would endorse Bob Taft despite the editorial board's preference for his opponent, Tim Hagen.