Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

An Oklahoma Newspaper Endorsed Clinton. It Hasn’t Been Forgiven
NY Times ^ | 12/27/2016 | Manny Fernandez

Posted on 12/27/2016 8:01:03 AM PST by usafa92

ENID, Okla. — One Sunday after church, Jeff Mullin and his wife were in line at the Western Sizzlin steakhouse here when a man, fists clenched, threatened to beat the hell out of him.

“My first thought was just to kind of try to keep things calm. Otherwise, it was going to be two old guys rolling around on the floor of the steakhouse, and that would be pretty unseemly,” recalled Mr. Mullin, 64, the mustachioed senior writer for Enid’s daily newspaper, The Enid News & Eagle.

The dispute was not personal. It was, of all things, editorial.

Mr. Mullin’s red newspaper in a red county in what is arguably the reddest of states went blue this campaign season and endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. The editorial board, in a gray-shaded column on Page A4 on Oct. 9, wrote that Donald J. Trump lacked “the skills, experience or temperament to hold office.” The headline and subhead read: “For U.S. president: Hillary Clinton is our choice for commander in chief.”

It was the first Democratic endorsement for president in the modern history of the newspaper, which was founded in 1893. As the man’s reaction at the steakhouse suggested, Enid was stunned, and this slow-paced agricultural town of 52,000 near the Kansas state line has not been the same since.

The News & Eagle, with a circulation of 10,000, lost 162 subscribers who canceled the paper. Eleven advertisers pulled their ads, including a funeral home that had a sizable account. Someone stuck a “Crooked Hillary” bumper sticker on the glass doors of the paper’s downtown office. A man left a late-night message on the publisher’s voice mail, expressing his hope that readers would deliver, to put it delicately, a burning sack of steaming excrement to the paper.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Oklahoma
KEYWORDS: 2016endorsements; clinton; news; oklahoma; redstates; trump
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-88 next last
To: usafa92
Much ado about nothing. The article is a self-pitying piece lauding a journalist who stands by his convictions.

The only reason we're seeing it is because the NYT wants to paint liberals as principled and conservatives as violent.

Get back to me when we see equal coverage concerning the faggot attack on Trump's daughter, the attacks on Trump supporters who literally had to flee for safety, etc.

41 posted on 12/27/2016 8:37:54 AM PST by LouAvul (The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: usafa92

https://youtu.be/MH9E5447VjQ?t=3 Sept.26 Debate
“Hillary has experience, but it’s bad experience.” Donald Trump
The American people understood this, even if the `ink-stained wretches” did not.


42 posted on 12/27/2016 8:39:16 AM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers, all armed conservatives)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: usafa92
And look at what happened to the Dallas Morning News when they endorsed Hillary Clinton--it took a huge financial toll on the newspaper.
43 posted on 12/27/2016 8:40:48 AM PST by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gaffer

In Enid it is quite likely they will lose.


44 posted on 12/27/2016 8:42:39 AM PST by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: usafa92

This the same bs that happened across America last year. A liberal company buys out a local newspaper. Then the new owners put a financial gun to the head of the publisher/editoros and tells them to support Clintoon.

That makes national news as a first by that newspaper.

The reality is that newspaper is not the same as it was for years before!

This paper’s corporate parent, Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., which is based in Alabama and owns newspapers and websites in 23 states, also played a role.

“It was our decision at the corporate level, which of course was made known to all of our papers, that Donald Trump did not meet our company and journalism values, particularly as they related to the First Amendment,” said Bill Ketter, the senior vice president for news.

Asked if the Enid editorial board had the freedom to endorse Mr. Trump, he replied: “Let me put it this way. We would have been disappointed. Did we demand that they do something? No, we didn’t do that. We set out our principles and our standards.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/us/oklahoma-newspaper-hillary-clinton-endorsement.html


45 posted on 12/27/2016 8:44:15 AM PST by Grampa Dave (You can't shame liberals because, they don't understand the concept of honor and decency!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003

#3rd, Kennedy is a squish.


46 posted on 12/27/2016 8:46:12 AM PST by Paladin2 (No spellcheck. It's too much work to undo the auto wrong word substitution on mobile devices.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: usafa92

Everyone should remember these bigoted media and act accordingly. Don’t forgive. And don’t forget. These vermin have chosen to be our enemies. Let’s let them.


47 posted on 12/27/2016 8:47:54 AM PST by IronJack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brooklyn Attitude
They only lost about 1.6% of their subscriptions and they are whining about it. Should have been 50%.
_____________________

Many moons ago, I had several informal e-mail exchanges with the relatively new editor of our local paper. We spoke about how he was turning the conservative paper into a left-leaning rag, though I did not use that term.

Our final conversation ended (as closely as I can recall) as follows:

EDITOR: “If you disagree with the editorials and other changes so much, how come you keep subscribing?”

ME: “ We have a very old dog sir. Every morning since she was a puppy she has gone outside, picked up the paper and brought it to my husband. It still brings her joy to do so, even with her arthritic limbs and that is the only reason we subscribe.

48 posted on 12/27/2016 8:49:21 AM PST by KittenClaws ( Normalcy Bias. Do you have it?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: plsjr

Nothing from the NYT, LAT, WaPo, and the alphabet networks is believable without independent verification. Assume propaganda and be rarely disappointed.


49 posted on 12/27/2016 8:49:30 AM PST by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: RayChuang88

Not large enough. The rag is still in business.


50 posted on 12/27/2016 8:49:49 AM PST by bigredkitty1 (March 5, 2010. Rest in peace, sweet boy. I will miss you, Big Red.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: usafa92
Terry M. Clark, the director of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame and a professor of journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. “This is an excellent example of the way American journalism ought to be — standing for something — and, man, it takes guts to do that in Enid, Okla.”

No...Mr. Director of Journalism, the paper could have just as easily not endorsed anybody if they believed Trump was untenable...

If Trump was untenable, certainly Hillary was even more...

Endorsing Hillary just exposed your true position as liberals...

51 posted on 12/27/2016 8:51:18 AM PST by Popman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: usafa92

Don’t trust anything a journalists says unless there is unedited video/audio footage. The restaurant scene has the feel of fake news.


52 posted on 12/27/2016 8:51:55 AM PST by Leo58 (Those who cheer you today will curse you tomorrow, the only thing that endures is character.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KavMan

Roberts sided with the Conservative dissent in Obergefehl v. Hodges, the gay marriage case. Kennedy was the swing vote that went liberal.


53 posted on 12/27/2016 8:52:52 AM PST by henkster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: blues-train

The Indianapolis Star was previously a Pulliam paper, and was consistently center-right in its editorial slant. However, about a decade ago it was bought out by Gannett and has since become just another hard-left rag. Some of the new editorial staff look like they just got their undergraduate political science degrees, and they write like it, too.


54 posted on 12/27/2016 8:55:50 AM PST by henkster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: usafa92
"An Oklahoma newspaper endorsed Clinton. It hasn't been forgiven."

Have liberals "forgiven" anyone who voted for or endorsed Trump?
55 posted on 12/27/2016 8:56:07 AM PST by Steve_Seattle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Opinionated Blowhard

Interestingly, there was a huge news story out of West Hollywood last night.

There was another of the ongoing drive by slappings.


56 posted on 12/27/2016 8:56:55 AM PST by waus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: KavMan

>>Roberts mostly sides with Conservatives except for Obamacare<<

“Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?”


57 posted on 12/27/2016 8:57:52 AM PST by freedumb2003 (Don't let the Christmas Assassins win!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Popman
" . . . and, man, it takes guts to do that in Enid, Okla.”

As if a Trump endorsement by a newspaper in Seattle or Portland or LA or San Francisco would be met with cool equanimity and a live-and-let-live attitude.
58 posted on 12/27/2016 8:58:52 AM PST by Steve_Seattle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: usafa92
The News & Eagle, with a circulation of 10,000, lost 162 subscribers who canceled the paper. Eleven advertisers pulled their ads, including a funeral home that had a sizable account. Someone stuck a “Crooked Hillary” bumper sticker on the glass doors of the paper’s downtown office. A man left a late-night message on the publisher’s voice mail, expressing his hope that readers would deliver, to put it delicately, a burning sack of steaming excrement to the paper.

Freedom of the Press is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. But the Press forgets, that guarantee does make its utterances sacred.

Because the same First Amendment guarantees Freedom of Speech to "the people" before it guarantees freedom of the press. And natural law dictates that actions have consequences.

The News & Eagle had a right to endorse Hillary Clinton for president. And the people of Enid, OK had an equal right to hold The News & Eagle accountable for its endorsement.

The News & Eagle forgot that it is a business, not the Holy Bible. By endorsing Hillary Clinton for president it insulted the values and intelligence of its customers, the people. And The People are now holding The Press accountable for its actions.

The News & Eagle endorsement of Hillary Clinton was stupid in concept and stupid in publishing. Now the News & Eagle can learn; "Life is hard. It's harder when you're stupid."

59 posted on 12/27/2016 9:01:52 AM PST by DakotaGator (Weep for the lost Republic! And keep your powder dry!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: usafa92

The Star-Telegram’s editorial in October, “Say No to Trump,” led to more than 100 canceled subscriptions, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of its circulation.

I believe this is a bit misleading because most people don’t cancel. THEY JUST DON’T RENEW! So they really don’t know the full impact just yet.


60 posted on 12/27/2016 9:01:57 AM PST by boycott
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-88 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson