Four years ago, the Chicago Sun-Times endorsed George Bush for president. On Sunday, it became one of a growing number of American newspapers to admit they had got it wrong.
At least 37 newspapers that backed Bush in 2000 have switched sides to John Kerry.
A Sun-Times editorial listed a number of reasons for withdrawing its support from Bush. The administration, it said, had been “wilfully and woefully unprepared to face” the insurgency in Iraq. The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy were “a costly misstep in a time of war” and the paper was concerned by the secrecy of Bush’s “subordinates such as Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft”.
Kerry, the paper said, acknowledged that the “United States is a world leader, not a rogue state”.
Others to have switched to the Democrats include the Los Angeles Daily News, the Memphis Commercial Appeal and Bush’s hometown newspaper, the Lone Star Iconoclast in Crawford, Texas.
For the Memphis Commercial Appeal in Tennessee, it is the first time the paper has backed a Democrat since Lyndon Johnson, 40 years ago.
So far 200 readers have cancelled their subscriptions. “The letters page was pretty scorching this morning, but we feel we can sleep at night,” said the editor, Chris Peck.
“We just felt that the whole situation in Iraq has led to a really disturbing relationship between the US and other countries. [Mr Bush] has also created a polarised environment in this country and we feel we have to find some common ground.”
According to the trade magazine Editor & Publisher, Kerry has been endorsed in the opinion pages of 142 US newspapers, with 123 backing Bush. The papers supporting Kerry have sales of 17,5-million, compared with 12,5-million for Bush.
Republicans are likely to use the data as evidence of the alleged liberal bias of the media. Editor & Publisher said this was a misperception.
“Surveys in the past have shown that the majority, in fact, back Republicans,” the magazine’s website said on Wednesday.
Kerry is backed by titles including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Detroit Free Press and the Miami Herald. Bush has the support of the Chicago Tribune, Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, the Dallas Morning News and the Washington Times.
But the most significant factor is the newspapers switching sides. Only five papers which supported Al Gore in 2000 have realigned themselves behind Bush, including the Denver Post, prompting 700 mostly critical letters from readers.
In the battleground state of Florida, Kerry has been endorsed by all the main titles. The Orlando Sentinel, which has backed every Republican candidate since Richard Nixon in 1968, told its readers: “This president has utterly failed to fulfil our expectations.”
Its endorsement drew a polarised response.
Messages on the newspaper’s website included: “Thank God that Bush is on his way out” and “Higher taxes, France making US international policies, Islamic terrorists with reps on the UN security council, waiting 10 months to a year to see a doctor, 10m dead babies great Demo legacy awaits.” – Guardian Unlimited Â