VOA慢速英语--为什么美国报纸支持政治候选人?

On January 19, The New York Times will endorse¹ a candidate seeking the presidential nomination² of the Democratic Party.

The Democratic nominee³ is expected to face U.S. President Donald Trump⁴, the likely nominee of the Republican Party, in national elections this November.

The Times is one of most famous newspapers in the United States. It has been publishing endorsements⁶ of presidential candidates for around 150 years.

But this year, there will be something different. The endorsement⁵ process will take place in a very public way. Readers will have a chance to see and even hear how the paper's editorial team decided⁷ on which candidate to support.

Today, we will explore how and why U.S. newspapers endorse political candidates. We will also show you how endorsements are changing in the modern media landscape.

Endorsements

Newspaper endorsements are specific declarations or statements of support for a political candidate. This candidate could be seeking the presidency⁸ or any number of local political offices.

American newspapers have been endorsing⁹ U.S. presidential candidates for a long time. The New York Times, for example, has been endorsing presidential candidates since 1860. So says Kathleen Kingsbury, a deputy Editorial Page editor at The Times.

Endorsements appear in the editorial section, which gives opinions. The editorial section is separate from the news section.

Process

Newspapers come to their endorsement decisions in different ways, notes Danny Funt in the Columbia Journalism¹⁰ Review.

For example, the policies of The Tennessean newspaper, in Nashville, Tennessee, are set by the paper's editorial board. For an endorsement, Funt explains, five board members must reach a consensus¹¹ decision.

Another paper, The Idaho Statesman, has a board that "consists of an editor, publisher, and five unpaid¹² community volunteers."

"Some readers might imagine a staff meeting where everyone on staff casts a vote," Funt writes. "In reality," he adds, "we endorse" may reflect the opinion of the publisher alone, the opinion editor alone, a board of a few people, or a board of 16, as at The New York Times."

Public and private

To make its endorsement decisions, The Times has historically done ‘off-the-record' interviews with candidates. In other words, its editorial team met with candidates and asked them questions. The questions and answers were not released to the public.

This year will be the first time that The New York Times publishes written transcripts¹³ and videos of the interviews. Kathleen Kingsbury wrote on Twitter that the idea is to make the endorsement process more open.

But not everyone thinks this change is a good idea. Alex Tabarrok is an economist¹⁴ and a professor at George Mason University in Virginia. He notes that private, off-the-record discussions can be very valuable.

"A credible¹⁵ off-the-record system leaks a bit of honesty into the public domain¹⁶ and thus improves information overall," he wrote in the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution. He added, "Indeed, what possible value-added can the NYTimes make with a "transparent¹⁷," "public" process? Everything that will be said, has been said."

Do presidential endorsements matter?

Newspaper endorsements have been a subject of debate for some time.

Before the 2012 elections, for example, 17 large U.S. newspapers chose not to endorse a presidential candidate, according to National Public Radio (NPR).

David Haynes told NPR that endorsements tend "to undermine this whole idea of independence, and it really undermines this idea of being an honest broker¹⁸ of opinion." At the time, Haynes was the editorial page editor at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The 2016 election seemed to settle the question about whether newspaper endorsements influence American public opinion in presidential elections.

In October 2016, media company Politico noted¹⁹ "as of this writing, Clinton has more than 200 endorsements from daily and weekly newspapers in the United States." By comparison, Politico reported, Trump had only six endorsements.

Trump won the presidency the following month.

Yet many U.S. newspapers are expected to endorse presidential candidates this year. Their reasoning often goes beyond the idea of simply changing public opinion.

Chicago Tribune editorial page editor John McCormick noted that "swaying votes is only one reason for endorsing, and arguably not the most important."

He added that endorsements, "explain to the world what that publication is, what it advocates, how it thinks, what principles it holds dear."

Words in This Story

endorse – v. to publicly or officially say that you support or approve of (someone or something)

landscape – n. the qualities of a given situation or activity; a picture representing an area

section – n. a part of piece of something; a group within something larger

board – n. a committee; a group of people serving on the decision-making body of an organization

consensus – n. an idea or opinion that is shared by all the people in a group

reflect – v. to represent something

transparent – adj. honest and open; not secretive

credible – adj. able to be believed; reasonable to trust or believe

undermine – v. to lessen²⁰ the effectiveness of something

sway – v. to influence; to cause to move back and forth

1 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

2 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

3 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

6 endorsements   

n.背书( endorsement的名词复数 )；（驾驶执照上的）违章记录；（公开的）赞同；（通常为名人在广告中对某一产品的）宣传

参考例句：

• He must make much money on those tennis shoe endorsements he does. 他替那些网球鞋珍重广告，就赚了不少钱。 来自互联网
• But celebrity endorsements remain an important promotional tool for marketers. 尽管如此，邀明星助阵仍是营销人员重要的推广手段之一。 来自互联网

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

9 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

10 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

11 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

12 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

13 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

14 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

15 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

16 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

17 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

18 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

19 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

20 lessen   

vt.减少，减轻；缩小

参考例句：

• Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
• They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。