米大統領選、リベラル主要２紙のハリス氏支持見送りに激しい反発

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米大統領選で長年、民主党候補を支持してきたリベラル系の有力紙２紙、ワシントン・ポストとロサンゼルス・タイムズが今回、カマラ・ハリス副大統領への支持を見送る方針を発表し、周囲から激しい反発が起きている。（写真は、ワシントン・ポスト本社に掲げられたロゴ）
　概して左派寄りとされるワシントン・ポストは、今回の大統領選でもハリス氏を支持する予定だったが、２５日に今後の大統領選では特定候補を支持しないとする方針を発表している。ロサンゼルス・タイムズもすでに同様の動きを見せており、政界とジャーナリズム界に衝撃が広がっている。
　ワシントン・ポストの元編集長マーティ・バロン氏は、共和党候補のドナルド・トランプ前大統領による脅しに屈したのではないかとし、「これは臆病」であり「犠牲となるのは民主主義だ」と鋭く批判した。
　ワシントン・ポストは現在、アマゾン・ドットコム創業者で富豪のジェフ・ベゾス氏が所有している。
　同紙スタッフが加盟する組合は「深い懸念」を表明。「カマラ・ハリスを支持する草稿はすでに用意されていた。掲載を見送るという決定は、オーナーのジェフ・ベゾスによってなされた」と述べた。ただし同紙経営陣に近い関係者はＡＦＰに対し、この情報を否定した。
　一方、ロサンゼルス・タイムズでも今週、オーナーである富豪実業家のパトリック・スンシオン氏が、ハリス氏支持を打ち出そうとした編集スタッフの意向を覆した。これを受け、社説担当を含む複数のスタッフが抗議し辞職した。
　両紙の多くの読者はこうした動きに対し、購読を止めると憤っている。
　メディアオーナーの多くは米政府と金銭的利害関係を持っている。例えばベゾス氏は、国防総省を含む省庁との大規模契約を持つ企業の株式を保有している。
　米ノースイースタン大学のダン・ケネディ教授（ジャーナリズム）はブログで、メディアオーナーらの動きは「予防的服従」だと批判し、「選挙戦間近のこの時期に（ハリス氏への支持を）見送ることは、トランプ氏が再選された場合に受けるかもしれない制裁に屈しているように見える」と指摘した。
　アメリカン大学のジェーン・ホール教授（コミュニケーション学）は「ドナルド・トランプは、テレビ局のライセンス取り消しやジャーナリストに対する制裁、そしてまだ始まってもいない政権で報道の自由を攻撃することなどを口にしている」と指摘した。
　トランプ氏は最近、ニュースメディアは「大衆の敵だ」と主張している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/10/28-17:25）

Days ahead of a close presidential election, two of the most prestigious liberal American newspapers have declined to give their usual endorsements to the Democratic Party candidate, sparking furious reactions.
The Los Angeles Times and Washington Post announced they had ended their decades-long practice of officially backing a presidential contender.
That drew a pointed retort from the Post's former top editor Marty Baron, who suggested his old newspaper was giving in to intimidation from Republican Donald Trump.
This is cowardice, Baron said on X, with democracy as its casualty.
The generally left-leaning newspaper -- owned by the billionaire Jeff Bezos, the founder and owner of Amazon -- was about to back Kamala Harris but said Friday that it would no longer endorse presidential candidates in any future election.
That decision, following a similar move by the Los Angeles Times, sent shock waves through politics and journalism.
The Post, in seeking to justify its choice, said: Our job as the newspaper of the capital city of the most important country in the world is to be independent. And that is what we are and will be.
But the newspaper's guild, representing its journalists, said it was deeply concerned, adding that an endorsement for Kamala Harris was already drafted, and the decision to not publish was made by The Post's owner, Jeff Bezos.
A source close to the paper's leadership denied that to AFP.
Earlier in the week, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Soon-Shiong, overruled the paper's editorial staff, which also wanted to endorse Vice President Harris.
Several Times employees of both papers resigned in protest, including editorials editor Mariel Garza.
I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent, she said in an interview.
In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up.
- Billionaires' power -
The Trump campaign responded with delight, saying, Kamala is such an empty vessel, the Washington Post has decided to nuke presidential endorsements altogether rather than back her candidacy.
Many readers of both papers expressed outrage, vowing to cancel their subscriptions.
The decision not to endorse stemmed partly from the papers not wanting to alienate potential readers, said Dannagal Young, a professor of communications at the University of Delaware.
But let's be clear, she added. The media mogul class is probably not very inclined to want to alienate (a person) who could be the president.
People want to be on the good side of Donald Trump.
Many media owners have financial interests linked to the government. Bezos holds shares in companies with substantial contracts with the administration, including the Pentagon.
Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University, said media owners were engaging in anticipatory obedience.
For them to take a pass on the presidential race this late in the campaign smacks of giving in to the punishment they might be subjected to if Trump returns to office, he added in a blog.
- Fading print giants -
Nonetheless, Harris this year won endorsements from the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Rolling Stone magazine and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Trump, for his part, won the backing of the conservative Washington Times and the New York Post, a tabloid owned by magnate Rupert Murdoch.
But while the campaigns have increasingly bet on the influence of newer platforms like podcasts and TikTok, endorsements from prestige media still matter, said Jane Hall, a communications professor at American University.
The reluctance to endorse comes at a moment when Donald Trump is talking about going after the licenses of television stations, punishing journalists further and attacking the free press in an administration that hasn't even started.
In recent days, Trump has again blasted the news media as the enemy of the people.
Hall said the Washington Post -- which in 2017 added the phrase Democracy Dies in Darkness to its masthead -- was courageous in covering the January 6 insurrection and in standing up to threats against the media.
So its decision now to withhold an endorsement will send a chilling effect to journalists, she said. It's very shocking.