Posted on 10/21/2004 3:48:33 PM PDT by Rennes Templar
I have not written much in this column about the Editorial and Commentary pages of the Tribune--the opinion pages. There is such a thing as being too close to your subject and, after having been in charge of those pages for more than nine years, I was too close.
But after the furious response by so many readers this week to Sunday's presidential endorsement editorial--there easily were at least 2,400 communications to editors, reporters, customer service representatives and the letters editor--it clearly is time to end that self-imposed moratorium.
-snip-
Besides the seasoned judgments of its members, the editorial board is guided in making its decisions by what might be called the "Tribune manifesto," a statement of philosophical principles and attitudes. Based on a 1969 editorial that marked a change of administration--nay, a change of era--at the newspaper, the document was updated last year by Dold, Lipinski and Smith. One exemplary paragraph:
"The Tribune believes in the traditional principles of limited government; maximum individual responsibility; and minimum restriction of personal liberty, opportunity and enterprise. It believes in free markets, free will and freedom of expression.
"These principles, while traditionally conservative, are guidelines and not reflexive dogmas."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Go Shy town!
They just don't want to piss off the suburbs, which is probably where they have the highest circulation.
How did this happen at the Trib? Sounds like a return to the good old days of Colonel McCormack running the paper.
My letter was one of those 2400 communications. I thanked them for endorsing Bush and said I was a New York City Dem voting for Bush because of terrorism. Yesterday, the Trib contacted me -- they're publishing my letter Sunday !
Good on you.
Based on a 1969 editorial that marked a change of administration--nay, a change of era--at the newspaper, the document was updated last year by Dold, Lipinski and Smith.
That answers the question of why this came as such a shock
not only to me but to the Democrats out there in Chicago. The Tribune was always considered to be an organ for the DNC since I was a kid.
So WHO BOUGHT the Trib a year or so ago?
Did you tell them you're a New York City Dem Freeper!!?? LOL
I said I was a New York City Dem, but alas, I did not include the term "Freeper." Next time...
Decent! I will have to break down and buy the Trib for
the first time in 20 years!
Congrats!
I knew it was local Dem organ but didn't know it had a right leaning national record. Don't know who bought it.
Thank you. Guess you could just read it online if you don't want to buy a copy.
We probably don't have too many New York City Dems registered at FR! Welcome aboard!
Now you're thinkin'. If only some of that attitude would rub off on the Trib's bastard spawn, the execrable L.A. Times!
Thank you ! I've only been here since Sept 11/04. Last weekend while volunteering for the Bush campaign in Philly I met eight other NYC Dems and told them to check out Free Republic.
Minus any core moral principles it's really just libertarianism. Better than nothing, but denies some realities that our Founders firmly believed in.
I refuse to read the Chicago Tribune and I am one of those readers who left after the Chicago Tribune refused to cover the Sandy Berglur story. I don't buy the endorsement for a second. They have slammed the President every day of the campaign yet never said one negative thing about John Kerry. I think the endorsement was a pure economic move. They are bleeding readers and want us conservatives back. That Warren guy who is a mouthpiece for the DNC is the head editor.
-PJ
The Chicago Tribune was founded in 1857 by Joseph Medill who was a friend and supporter of Abe Lincoln and who backed Lincoln for president when the GOP had its second national convention in Chicago in 1860. It broke with the GOP in 1912 when Medill's son wanted to endorse Teddy Roosevelt as the Bull Moose candidate against the GOP candidate William Howard Taft and the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson. The Tribune was hard on FDR and Truman and used to refer to Truman's Pendergast machine friends by their Fort Leavenworth serial numbers. Only in the 1970s did the Tribune editorial policy start veering to the Left and the ownership changed from one family to The Tribune Company that also owns lumber mills, other papers, and the WGN (for World's Greatest Newspaper) television and radio stations and the Chicago Cubs and the Cubs Broadcasting Network. (The Cubs were formerly owned by William Wrigley of Wrigley's Gum). There is only one very important endorsement for the Tribune. It must always endorse the Democratic candidate for Asessor of Cook County. It it does not, it could cost the company millions in increased taxes. Mayor Richard M. Daley, son of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, does not dislike George Bush because they share many of the same values. As long as the Tribune endorses important Democrats at the local level, it is OK for them to endorse Republicans at the state or national level.
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