Zorn: OK, so how does one take revenge on cowardly billionaires?

Endorsement controversy in Los Angeles and Washington prompts doubts about unsigned editorials in general: Who is speaking?

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Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.

Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. I talk with WGN-AM 720 host John Williams about what’s making news and likely to be grist for the PS mill. The WGN listen-live link is here.

Who is saying what now?

The controversy over the decision by the owner of the Washington Post and the owner of the Los Angeles Times in the final weeks of election season not to make endorsements in the race for president has exposed the inherent contradiction in the very idea of unsigned newspaper editorials.

Editorial boards at both newspapers were reportedly prepared to run endorsements of Vice President Kamala Harris in her race against Donald Trump until the billionaire owners of their publications — Patrick Soon-Shiong at the Times; Jeff Bezos at the Post — blocked publication of those endorsements on what looked like pretextual grounds to avoid angering Trump should he be elected.

I agree with those who say that it would have been far better had this ban on presidential endorsements come many months or even several years ago when we didn’t know who the candidates were going to be. The owners of the Chicago Tribune, Alden Global Capital, issued just such a ban in 2022, extending it to gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races.

But these twin controversies have exposed a troubling truth about unsigned editorials of any sort: Readers can never be certain if an opinion being offered in an editorial has been dictated by the owner of the publication, if it reflects a consensus view of the members of the editorial board, if it’s the view of the editor of the editorial page that runs contrary to the consensus view of the members of the board, or if it’s just an attempt to channel some traditional “voice” of the publication that reflects views that members of the editorial board no longer believe.

The question “Says who?” looms over every unsigned editorial — the ones you agree wholeheartedly with, the ones that infuriate you and the ones that give you pause to think.

That question does not attach to opinion columns such as the one I used to write, where it’s clear who is offering up views, admonitions and sarcasm.

Savvy readers know that reporters, photographers, designers, news editors, features editors and copy editors have no say in the opinions expressed in unsigned editorials and are not bound by them, yet there remains confusion among less savvy readers who assume otherwise. That this fact must be explained over and over, particularly at endorsement time, is evidence that this opaque and hoary tradition ought to end.

Cancel my subscription!?

Hundreds of thousands of subscribers to both the Times and the Post have reportedly canceled their subscriptions in the wake of what looks to them (and to me) as anticipatory obedience to a potential Trump administration. I certainly understand the impulse. Subscribers don’t want their money going to an organization owned by a cowardly billionaire who sucks up to a supremely horrible aspiring dictator.

The problem here — the problem with any boycott — is that it’s nearly impossible to harm wealthy business owners without first harming their non-wealthy employees. Whatever revenue comes off bottom line at the Post and Times due to cancellations isn’t even pocket change to Soon-Shiong and Bezos, who would simply cut staff or eliminate raises to make up the difference.

The other day Pulitzer Prize winning former Tribune columnist Mary Schmich posted the following, which expresses some of my own thoughts about threatened cancellations over the years.

Weakening a good newspaper doesn’t help the cause of defeating Donald Trump and the menace he represents.

Putting out a newspaper takes money. Reliable news reporting costs money.

If the Post had told its columnists they could no longer have political opinions, I'd probably cancel. As it is, their columnists and reporters have expressed the same dismay and anger over this that readers have—and they’ve done it in the Washington Post. The Post is printing letters from outraged readers.

I'm glad so many Post readers are speaking out. I’m just not convinced that canceling is effective in any practical way. … And the day may come that I cancel. But not now. It's counterproductive to punish the reporters and editors who work their asses off to report the news. In punishing the Post, we punish ourselves by depriving ourselves of news and views we need.

This does raise the question of what else one can do to punish the sort of gross, craven irresponsibility on display here. To continue on as though nothing has changed seems not just wrong but an act of capitulation itself.

Sure, we’ll keep subscribing to your Vichy rag because good people are still there writing good stories.

Some have suggested cancelling Amazon Prime memberships, since Bezos owns Amazon. But I’m not sure if Bezos would notice or care, and even if he did I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t cause him to change his ways.

Others have suggested investing those newspaper subscription dollars into smaller, more courageous local news organizations. To that I would simply say “both/and.”

I’m thinking maybe a massive one-week cancellation followed by a massive re-subscribe effort (at the lower introductory rates!) would flex on the publication and serve as a “don’t do this again” warning. Like, “We’re showing you we know how to quit you, and next time it will be for real.”

Why scores of front line journalists aren’t quitting in protest

Because they have bills to pay and families to feed and can’t live on high-minded principles. I applaud Times editorial page editor Mariel Garza, who resigned in protest last week along with editorial writers Robert Greene and Karin Klein, but summarily walking away from a good job is a luxury not many people can afford.

Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses

On endorsements

John Houck — The decision not to endorse a candidate for president this year could conceivably be the last time such a decision is left up to the newspapers to make.

Gillean Wilsak — If the Tribune won't endorse a presidential candidate, why are they using page after page to endorse candidates in so many other state-wide races?

Zorn— In many of these down ballot races — water commissioners, judges, state legislatures, school boards and so on — voters have not been paying much attention, and they are grateful (or at least mostly indifferent) to the advice of an editorial board. I never participated in the endorsement process when I was at the paper, but I know that the people who did were very conscientious in how they evaluated the candidates and studied the issues.

For the major races, however, people who read newspaper editorials tend to be already up on the issues and have already made up their own minds. They can be resentful of an endorsement that goes the other way. To the point of canceling their subscriptions.

Ann H. — I was on the verge of picking up the phone to cancel my Tribune subscription over the failure to endorse Harris when I started reading your piece and learned that the decision not to endorse was made by Alden Global Capital more two years ago. I can't say you totally convinced me. but at least I'm not calling this instant.

Zorn — The Tribune is making a big mistake not highlighting the reason they’re not endorsing anyone this time around. I’m getting questions nearly every day from people wanting to know when the Tribune is going to endorse, or if the editorial board is going to pull a Times/Post and chicken out.

I would like to see a candid editorial explaining why there is no presidential endorsement, perhaps even one that expresses unhappiness over the edict from on high.

Jake H. — While the idea of an anonymous "institutional voice" is a fiction in a literal sense, it can be an elevating one. Editorials are ideally expressions of sober, adult opinions, detached insofar as possible from personal experience, idiosyncrasy, axes to grind, and more narrow partisan or special interest agendas. Even to the extent they have a partisan lean, they frequently constitute the best arguments from that quarter. In style and substance, they are daily grasps for a deeper wisdom. Anonymity, meanwhile, gets a bum rap -- it helps us focus on the argument itself rather than the person making it. I'm not persuaded that this tradition is weird or antiquated. We need more of it, in my view, not less. One response to Eric's point is that if newspapers won't do it, who will?

Mark K — The WaPo's slogan is "Democracy dies in the darkness" and the times are looking increasingly dark.

Trump as budding fascist

Rick Schwartz —Whether Mein Trumpf gets re-elected or not, we have to accept that roughly half of American voters are voting for him even though they know Trump has long been a crook, liar, crude, amoral, selfish, and dangerous misanthrope willing to risk their safety and well being for his own.

Steve T. — Don’t waste time trying to convert Trump voters— their vote was banked the second they decided that January 6 was not a deal-breaker. But I urge everyone who fears “Trump Part II: This Time it’s Personal”, to please start reaching out to anyone you know to get out the vote. We’d like to assume that our pro-democracy friends will vote, but there are a whole lot of folks out there who need nudging. And if the folks you know don’t need the nudge, ask them to nudge their folks, and so on. Again, this is not a drill — if Trump wins, he will have no one to steer him away from his revenge and punishment plans.

Zorn — I’ve been phone banking in the spirit of nudging. Most people hang up without even saying hello — as I do with numbers I don’t recognize — and some have cussed me out. But others have thanked me and reacted well to my exhortation to drag friends and family to the polls. Now Imma nudge y’all:

It’s game on! Consider volunteering to motivate like-minded voters to the polls. Here are a few options.

• Mobilize — “Events, Petitions, and Volunteer Opportunities”

• How to call anytime for Harris-Walz

• Canvass door-to-door for Wisconsin Democrats

• Operation Swing State

• Postcards to Swing States

Entry-level jobs

Mark K. — Your assertion is true that working a low-wage menial job as a teenager or young adult doesn’t necessarily make a person “more or less relatable, compassionate or insightful. Empathy can be gained directly or fostered abstractly.” But I think such work does improve a person's ability to relate to working class people and have empathy for them. Sure, it can be learned in other ways, like from parents or mentors or from popular culture, but the actual experience of dealing with diverse customers, having to learn a skill and follow instructions, working with others as a team in the real world," and understanding where money comes from is far more memorable and effective in shaping an empathetic, open-minded, grounded person.

Laurence E Siegel — Low-level employees must learn certain responsibilities such as showing up when expected, staying on task, treating customers right, working well with coworkers and showing initiative. Yes. the duties may have little to do with the skills needed for jobs later in life, but they do show that a person was able to have and keep a job.

David Leitschuh —When I was hiring people for entry level positions, even a position that required a college degree, I did indeed have a positive reaction when applicants had worked menial jobs in their younger years. Having done so is evidence of personal responsibility and commitment to showing up on time, taking direction from supervisors and exhibiting a general willingness to work. Technical skills can be taught, but a work ethic cannot.

I was blessed to be raised in a family that provided for my basic needs, but made it abundantly clear to me early on that I would have to earn my own money for things that I wanted. That was a catalyst for me to get a morning paper route at age 10, and getting up every morning before 5 a.m to get my route done on a timely basis.

This and other part-time low level jobs were invaluable in helping me continue to develop a personal work ethic that has served me very well through my entire life.

Is a 25 mph city speed limit too damn slow?

Garry Spelled Correctly — The proposal in front of the City Council to lower the citywide speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph is insane.

A limit that low is ridiculous for certain stretches, like Pulaski between Foster and Peterson, Peterson from Pulaski to Central Park, or that long bridge on Cicero over the Belt Railroad yards south of Midway.

Zorn — Lowering the speed limit to 25 mph will certainly save lives. But lowering it to 20 mph would save even more lives and dropping it to 10 mph on side streets would save even more lives. Sound absurd? Well in “A Blueprint for Creating a More Just and Vibrant City for All,” Mayor Brandon Johnson’s transition team recommended that Chicago “lower the default citywide speed limit to 20 mph generally and 10 mph on residential streets.”

Before I jump on one side or the other of this proposal I’d like to hear more about the tradeoffs involved when traffic engineers calculate optimal speed limits. Here is Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield defending a significant drop. I plan to have Greenfield on as a guest Thursday afternoon when I guest host on WCPT-AM 820.

Partially regrettable Halloween column

Michael M. — Speaking of regrettable columns, Zorn once wrote that kids should trick or treat only in their own communities.

It's not acceptable--not in the community spirit of the holiday--to drive your kids around to neighborhoods where you think the residents will be giving out better candy than your neighbors.

Zorn — Yeah, that one passage was truly misguided and I retracted it upon further review, even though nearly 70% of readers agreed with the sentiment in a click survey.

I wrote that my insistence that Halloween has a "community spirit" and therefore children should trick-or-treat mainly at the homes of their neighbors reflected an old-fashioned view of the holiday, when trick-or-treating was simply a door-to-door parade around the neighborhood.

My Norman Rockwell visions of Buddy and Sis simply going around the block to show the Thompsons, Old Widow Harrison and all the other grownups their cowboy outfit and princess costume in exchange for popcorn balls and fistfuls of roasted chestnuts didn’t match the reality of today's expectations. Nor did it take into account kids who live in neighborhoods where few families hand out treats, kids who live in high-rise neighborhoods and kids who live in certain areas where the distances between houses is large and there are no sidewalks.

What if your single issue is Middle East war?

FSP — If your one issue was the Middle East and the ongoing conflict, who would you vote for and why if you were pro-Palestinian? Pro-Israel?

Zorn — Pro-Palestinian people who vote for Donald Trump or Jill Stein or who decide to stay home and sulk because the Biden administration has been supplying weapons to Israel are foolishly enabling Donald Trump, who has said he will give free rein to Israel to do whatever it wants to obliterate whichever populations in the region it considers a threat, non-combatants be damned. But even staunchly pro-Israel voters ought to be wary of Trump’s bellicose posturing, because the Middle East will never know peace if the leaders all think they can kill their way to a settlement of hostilities. The Democrats, for all their inconsistency and mixed messaging, are the best hope for minimizing the carnage in the region and resolving the seemingly irresolvable hostilities.

What is the worst name change in Chicago history?

My friends at Axios are this week offering another of their fun bracket tournaments, this one asking which local name change — i.e. Sears Tower to Willis Tower; University of Illinois at Chicago Circle to University of Illinois Chicago and so on — is the worst. Go vote!

Axios pointedly did not include “changes made to right the wrongs of the past (i.e., renaming streets after prominent historical figures).” But in my view they should have included changing Lake Shore Drive to Jean Baptiste DuSable Lake Shore Drive in their tournament as well as changing Northwest Expressway to the Kennedy Expressway, changing Douglas Park to Douglass Park, changing Cook County Hospital to Stroger Hospital, changing Crawford Avenue to Pulaski Road and — the one that most deeply sticks in my craw — changing Waveland Golf Course to Sydney R. Marovitz Golf Course.

After you fill out your Axios bracket, let me know what they (and I) have left off our lists:

The week’s best visual jokes

Here are some funny visual images I've come across recently on social media. Enjoy, then evaluate:

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