By Kenneth Campbell
Guest Editorial
By the time the L.A. Times and The Washington Post scuttled planned endorsements of Kamala Harris and jettisoned their policy of endorsing presidential candidates – merely days before the election, several major Black newspapers around the country had endorsed Harris as early as July 21. That was only days after Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee following President Biden withdrawing from the race.
It is mindboggling to ignore the fact that both of those major mainstream newspapers, and others, refused to endorse Harris although they previously endorsed a white female for president in 2016 (yes, Hilary Clinton) and vilified her white male opponent (yes, Donald Trump) as unfit in character and temperament for the presidency. In 2020, these same mainstream newspapers rejected Trump again and endorsed Joe Biden with Harris as his vice presidential
candidate.
But with Vice President Harris at the top of the ticket – the first woman of color as a major political party’s nominee for President – some of the largest and most respected mainstream newspapers abandoned what they previously considered a professional responsibility – to make an endorsement in the most important political election every four years.
Black newspapers have also been challenged with a woman heading the ticket. Many refused to endorse Hilary Clinton in 2016. In the story “Stop The Presses: Few Endorsements Making Headlines in Black Newspapers” by Erick Johnson of the Chicago Crusader, the newspaper reported in April 2016 that of 26 major Black newspapers surveyed, 19 had not endorsed a presidential candidate during the primary period. Of the seven that endorsed, all supported Clinton. This nonendorsing trend continued in the general election season.
Some Black newspapers cited editorial polices prohibiting endorsements and others cited dissatisfaction with the candidates and the establishment.
In this year’s 2024 election cycle, reporting about the withholding of endorsements by the L.A. Times and the Washington Post suggests that the decision was not necessarily about race, or gender, it was about money. Lots of money. The billionaire owners of each of the two newspapers — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos of the Washington Post and medical businessman Patrick Soon-Shiong of the Los Angeles Times — stopped their respective newspaper’s planned endorsement of Harris; some journalists and pundits speculate that it was an attempt to cozy up to Donald Trump who, if elected, could affect federal government contracts and regulations in their favor. In all, less than a third of the top 100 circulation newspapers made an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race – about 30 for Harris and
three for Trump. Non-endorsing newspapers cited the perceived lack of influence of editorials, the public’s failure to see news coverage as independent from editorial pages, and not wanting to contribute to political polarization.
Still, the specter of the intersection of race and gender hangs over the lack of endorsements in mainstream newspapers.
However, more than 50 African American newspapers that endorsed Harris extolled the intersection of race and gender. They pointed to her identity and her trailblazing career as a woman of color, even though Harris herself did not often do so.
As Harris was ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket, a number of Black newspapers immediately embraced her candidacy. Leading the way was Word in Black, a news collaborative of 10 legendary Black publishers started in 2021. It contributes articles and opinion columns to member newspapers and its
website at https://wordinblack com. A column by political commentator Keith Boykin, “Kamala Harris for President,” which was distributed by Word in Black observed (July 21, 2024): “Instead of a contest between two unpopular, old white guys, the new race pits a 59-year-old Black woman against a 78-year-old convicted felon…Now is the time for the Democratic Party to step up. You say you are an inclusive party of women and people of color. It’s time to prove it and get behind Kamala Harris.”
Word in Black issued its “first-ever political endorsement,” “Kamala Harris for President,” which was published in its member newspapers like Afro News (July 26, 2024). It proclaimed, “At this pivotal moment in American history, Harris represents the change we want to see now. She is a transformational figure, poised to make history not only as the first woman
to serve the nation as commander-in-chief but also as the first Black woman, first HBCU graduate and first member of a Black Greek letter organization to hold the most powerful job on earth.”
It is worth noting that five of the 10 publishers of Word in Black newspapers are women, including publishers of the Afro News of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., Atlanta Voice, Houston Defender, New York Amsterdam News, and Washington Informer.
The enthusiasm and emphasis on Harris’ identity continued in Black newspaper endorsements up to the election. In “Editorial: Courier strongly endorses Kamala Harris for President,” The New
Pittsburgh Courier (November 1, 2024) noted “Kamala Harris is the perfect example of a professional Black woman” and urged reluctant Black men to “put their reservations aside” and support “a Black woman with a backbone.”
In “The Westside Gazette proudly and emphatically endorses Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for Vice President” (October 31, 2024), the newspaper in Broward County, Florida, declared that “Kamala Harris represents a new era of political possibility for Black America. As the first Black and South Asian American woman to serve as Vice President, her candidacy represents more than just a step toward breaking the highest glass ceiling; it is a direct challenge to a system that has for too long suppressed the voices of women of color… Her presidency would mark a historic shift in representation and signal to young Black girls everywhere that no dream is too big.”
These Black publishers recognized the historic symbolism and importance of embracing the intersection of race and gender in Harris’ candidacy.
Dr. Kenneth Campbell, Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina, is Director of the Media & Civil Rights History Symposium and a former newspaper journalist.