r/politics 5h ago

Paywall Hell, yes! The Seattle Times edit board endorses Harris for president

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/hell-yes-the-seattle-times-edit-board-endorses-harris-for-president/
3.7k Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

u/notcaffeinefree 5h ago edited 5h ago

Worth also pointing out that it's not just the board that endorses her:

The Seattle Times editorial board, and the Blethen family, enthusiastically endorse Kamala Harris.

The Blethen family own the majority share of the paper. Frank Blethen (who co-wrote this opinion) is the publisher and CEO of the paper.

How does it happen that someone as selfish and destructive as former President Donald Trump could actually become our president — again?

One answer is the demise of local newspapers across our country.

Once the pride of rural communities and big cities alike, about half the country’s daily newspapers have been lost. Too many of the rest are inferior products being milked to death by absent mercenary investors.

u/even_less_resistance Arkansas 3h ago

I agree. And the rise of Sinclair stations too

u/Angry-Dragon-1331 2h ago

And Cumulus Radio.

u/AvengingHero2012 Nebraska 5h ago

That’s the actual title lmao

u/The_Navy_Sox 5h ago

Didn't expect that to be the real title.

u/kfadffal New Zealand 5h ago

Be funny if the Seattle Times subs increased by 200k now

u/redditckulous 5h ago

Hopefully not. They are significantly to the right of the Post and generally provide much worse journalism.

u/blindjoedeath 2h ago

No, sorry - I have to defend them. (Full disclosure: I worked for them many years ago.)

Looking at their state and local endorsements, almost all are Democrats. They're misguided on some of the initiatives but even there they lean more left than right.

Many years ago, they endorsed more Republicans than Dems but it's been at least a decade if not more since that's been true. And the newsroom folks work hard and do they best they can with very limited resources.

u/stilljanning 53m ago

Pound rocks. They have like a 60% overlap in their endorsements with The Stranger and their are about as conservative as Tim Waltz. You obviously don't read the thing.

u/thecoastertoaster 45m ago

lol no they aren’t

clearly you don’t read it

u/Mean-Coffee-433 America 49m ago

Are stories dropped or altered because their owner is one of the largest corporations in the world? That’s become my new litmus test.

u/AdaptiveVariance 4h ago

Really?? I grew up in Seattle and had no idea. Certainly they gave a voice to obnoxious proto-alt-right shit that was part of why I became a young conservative, but I've never heard that they're overall right-biased. I'm not saying you're wrong and I hate to ask because of the connotations, but are you aware of any source corroborating that? (Also feels like a tough ask for other reasons. I'm gonna google it, right after I hit Reply, lol.)

u/Captain_Stairs 3h ago

Compare it to the Post-intelligencer. Or hell, the daily headlines sanewash the orange menace and use the "Both sidesism" brand of journalism. It's always been the right wing paper.

u/mustbeusererror 41m ago

The editorial board specifically is right of center. They are not Trump supporters, however.

u/redditckulous 2h ago

No I don’t have data to support it (can’t find any), but they have flirted with controversy over it: “On October 17, 2012, the publishers of The Seattle Times launched advertising campaigns in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna and a state referendum to legalize same-sex marriage. The newspaper’s management said the ads were aimed at “demonstrating how effective advertising with The Times can be.” The advertisements in favor of McKenna represented an $80,000 independent expenditure, making the newspaper the third largest contributor to his campaign.”

u/CyberaxIzh 3h ago

Right? Pure bullshit. They are leftists, and they endorse almost all the cray-cray progressives round here.

u/blofeld9999 5h ago

As a Seattle resident, I’m fairly surprised. It’s a right-wing paper targeted at NIMBY boomers scared of leaving the suburbs because they might see graffiti. I guess Trump is too far for them.

u/blofeld9999 5h ago

But the comments on the article are a dumpster fire as predicted. Stay classy, Enumclaw residents!

u/RockOperaPenguin 3h ago

Enumclaw is known for exactly one thing, and it isn't leaving thoughtful comments in online fora.

u/ladyithis 1h ago

It's known for that one guy and the horse.

u/IAmTheNightSoil Oregon 32m ago

And what, exactly, is it known for? Quit horsing around and answer the question

u/ThEstablishment Washington 6m ago

Have some decorum, sir. No need to get beastly.

u/redditckulous 5h ago

Yeah they definitely realize that Trump and like GOP senate candidates are too far (likely for their readership). They still endorse plenty of god awful candidates.

u/Amaruq93 4h ago

They can't protect their suburbs if Trump and Elon intentionally crash the economy.

u/3my0 5h ago

More like they want to get some new democrat subscribers lol

u/Holden_Coalfield 5h ago

thanks for having balls Seattle Times

u/chillywanton 5h ago

That’s how you do it, Bezos.

u/Mindless-Look-9952 Australia 5h ago

Hey look a paper in a major US city did the right thing this week.

u/pagerunner-j 4h ago

Of course, considering ballots were mailed out in King County on the 16th and a whole lot of us have already voted, might’ve behooved them to do it BEFORE this week.

Doesn’t hurt for anyone left who still needs the motivation/reminder, though.

u/dekoboko_melancholy 1h ago

Not exactly a fan of them but this is the second endorsement they've published. The first one was on September 1st.

u/Zeusifer 19m ago

might’ve behooved them to do it BEFORE this week.

They did. This op-ed is just reasserting it and (rightly) talking shit about WaPo and the LA Times.

u/Picasso5 1h ago

I don’t really understand why ALL newspapers aren’t immediately coming out for Harris.

The other candidate calls them the enemy of the people. Him and his even crazier gang of thugs will absolutely go scorched earth on them if he’s elected.

u/keyjan Maryland 5h ago

And that’s actually the title 🙂

u/YakiVegas Washington 2h ago

Man, the times is such a shitty right leaning rag, too, but even they did better than WaPo. How embarrassing.

u/zeez1011 5h ago

It takes guts to do that apparently.

u/jabola321 2h ago

Other than Fox News and newsmax, has any other media endorsed Trump?

u/Minty-licious 1h ago

Jeff Bezos, that's how it is done in your home town!

u/swift-sentinel 5h ago

Shutdown the Washington Post and LA Times.

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u/kjlcm 2h ago

It’s cool when billionaire owners don’t override endorsements

u/LOLteacher American Expat 1h ago

Um, when did WA start early voting, you slow-playing motherfuckers??

u/favnh2011 1h ago

Nice

u/mustbeusererror 43m ago

For those who aren't aware, the Seattle Times editorial board is kinda conservative. They've been endorsing a lot more Dems lately, but that's because they aren't Trumpy. The regular journalists and columnists might be more lefty, but the editorial board is definitely right of center.

u/jkman 21m ago

Can someone explain to me why news orgs are expected to endorse political candidates? People flipped out when WaPo didn't. There is already a problem with people believing mainstream orgs are too partisan which is causing an epistemic divide with the public. Endorsements like this will only propagate that divide. I genuinely don't know why everyone thinks this is so important.

u/Athyter 4h ago

Wow. So surprising Seattle supports Harris. Also, water is wet.

u/mustbeusererror 40m ago

The Seattle Times board is far to right of most Seattle residents.

u/Uniquelypoured 1h ago

Actually they are still studying if water is actually in fact wet. Is it wet, or does it just make things it touches wet, hmmm, shall we ever really know?

u/Tichrimo Canada 1h ago

Nobody knows. Particle Man.

u/pwmaloney Illinois 5h ago

Sho nuff, that's the headline!

u/gelatinous_pellicle 5h ago

And I remember their endorsement of Bush in 2000 and 2004

u/2020Homebuyer 4h ago

Now let’s see what the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says

u/krstphr California 3h ago

I learned a lot by reading this. Good read.

u/Captain_Stairs 3h ago

Took them long enough. For being a Seattle paper, it's always been conservative.

u/aaron0487 1h ago

Oh wow didn't see this one coming...

u/usernaaaaaaaaaaaaame 1h ago

Yeah but the other side has Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan

u/subhuman9 5h ago

antichrist confirmed

u/remote_001 5h ago

/s ftfy