The Ithaca Journal wrote an editorial today decrying the low (25%) voter turnout in last week's Democratic primary for town supervisor. They never mention the responsibility they have, as the city's only daily newspaper.
As we wrote in a posting a week ago today ("Ithaca's Newspapers Fail Civics Test"), neither the Journal nor the weekly Times was interested enough to endorse a candidate in the election.
Or we might say bold enough. It was a hotly contested election and apparently the newspapers didn't want to get hurt by getting in the middle - or, worse, picking the loser.
Ithaca Blog posed the question to the Journal's editorial department on the phone this morning: If the Journal had endorsed a candidate, or provided substantial criticism or analysis of the candidates, don't you think that would have increased voter interest, and turnout?
We asked whether, as a follow-up to their editorial today, they would be forthright enough to scrutinize their own role, in print, about the issues they raised today. We'll see.
We do thank the Journal for their time in discussion this morning.
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca Blog
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