The New York Times is getting out of New York endorsements.
The newspaper’s editorial board on Monday announced that it will no longer endorse political candidates in New York state and local races.
“While elections everywhere remain critical to the lives and experiences of our audience, the editorial board is ceasing the endorsement process for New York elections,” Kathleen Kingsbury, The Times’ Opinion head who oversees the editorial board, said in a statement. “We remain a journalistic institution rooted in New York City, both historically, today and in the future.”
“As the institutional voice of The Times, the editorial board serves our mission to help our global audience understand the world by providing a consistent, independent view of the world based on time-tested institutional values,” Kingsbury said.
The Times’ editorial board, which was founded in 1896, is composed of opinion journalists and operates separately from both the publication’s newsroom and The Times as a company. The Times’ newsroom will continue its regular reporting on New York electoral races and the paper’s Opinion team will continue offering perspectives on the state’s races, candidates, and issues, Kingsbury said.
The editorial board did not provide a reason for the decision, but The Times reported that the change will have immediate effect, meaning the board won’t weigh in on upcoming Senate, congressional, and Assembly races.
Notably, however, the board can continue making endorsements in presidential races, including in the upcoming November election, and it can still endorse political candidates in races outside of the state.
The Times joins the likes of other major US newspaper chains, including McClatchy, which announced in September 2020 that its 30 newspapers, including The Miami Herald and The Kansas City Star, would no longer endorse presidential candidates.
In 2022, Alden Global Capital also announced that its newspapers — which include the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Boston Herald, and Orlando Sentinel — would take a more sweeping approach to endorsements, ending its editorial board’s endorsements at the presidential, gubernatorial, and senate levels.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, known for its conservative bend, has not endorsed candidates since 1928.
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