A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.
6 November 2022
Newspapers, when newspapers were fodder for informed minds, used to make endorsements at election time (even if it meant alienating large numbers of subscribers). And they were usually made in the big Sunday paper before an election to ensure the largest readership.
When we were the city editor of our college newspaper, we remember sitting down as a staff (even the sports editor) with various candidates and proponents of various measures to hear their pitch. We'd listen attentively, taking notes and asking questions.
When they'd gone, we make more coffee and discuss what we'd heard. They were perhaps the most civilized political discussions we've ever experienced.
But they were a lot of work, too.
You didn't just get inflamed by some tweet or headline and pound your haptic screen senseless in reply, sharing it with everyone connected to the electrical grid.
You listened. You questioned. You talked about what you had found out. You thought about it. You weighed the consequences.
Then we took a little vote among ourselves. And if you didn't win, you lost (a concept that should not be but is under threat in our current political landscape).
Newspapers still do make endorsements even if no one pays any attention to them any more. And the staffs still go through the rigorous examination of candidates and propositions even a college city editor used to go through.
At the very least, newspapers not owned by media conglomerates provides an informed counterpoint to other influences, whether they be TV ads, political tweets, special-interest mailers, party propaganda or other proponent-propelled missive.
Without seeing any of those endorsements, we endorse them. Have a look at yours.