Howard Fineman was trolling this past weekend implying Des Moines Register's endorsement of Romney could be a game changer and Pres Obama could lose.
What passes as journalism today.
Well the people of Iowa weren't happy with DMR. Iowa residents flooded DMR with letters of disgust. Let's read a few:
The Des Moines Register could probably publish a special edition of letters from readers who were shocked at seeing the Mitt Romney endorsement in the October 28 Opinion section of the paper.
The Sunday Review section of the October 28 New York Times has a number of Opinion pieces that state so clearly the reasons to re-elect Barack Obama and the reasons not to elect Mitt Romney. It was refreshing to read positive, decisive information that does make sense for re-election.
There is one very easy way to disavow the Registers endorsement and that is to vote for Barack Obama in such numbers that it will help Iowans look like we are smarter than a poorly thought out endorsement.
– Glenna Munson, Urbandale
I have subscribed to the daily and Sunday Des Moines Register for over thirty years. I have stuck with the paper through a number of editors. Some coverage I agreed with and some I didn’t, but I always believed there were good editorial reasons behind the decisions. I got a good sense of this upon reading other papers when traveling.
The direction of the paper in the last couple years has been difficult to understand, much less defend. News that would ordinarily command the front page has been buried in the back. People depend upon the paper to give due weight to the issues of the day. When the editorial policy commands that the front page is almost exclusively Iowa-centric, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the paper has turned very provincial. What really hurts is when the front page is covered with relatively trivial news. Then I must turn to the internet for a sense of what is newsworthy.
Some stories have been greatly ignored. The only way one would know is by reading other periodicals or viewing television. Most noteworthy for me was Rupert Murdoch’s scandals in England. At the height of the story, all of England was in turmoil and the story consumed their media. The major US television networks gave great coverage and newspapers in this country such as the New York Times and the Washington Post covered this story on their front pages to a comprehensive degree. I was shocked at the very scant coverage in the Register. It almost seemed you were suppressing this news.
There are many problems I see with your handling of the Obama interview on background, your resurrecting a deprecating trivial piece about Obama visiting the State Fair run in mid-October, and your endorsement of Romney. I won’t belabor this. I am not a “take my ball and go home” person. But your poor editorial decision making in all three of these matters was the final straw. It galvanized my decision to discontinue my subscription. I’ll miss having the paper every day, but I’ve missed the sense of journalistic responsibility the paper used to have.
– Dr. Chris Siebrasse, Stuart
For forty-five years I was a loyal reader of the Des Moines Register. Earlier this spring I was forced to cancel my subscription due to the horrendous delivery service in western Iowa. Until today, I continued to buy the Sunday Register. However, now that your editorial staff has endorsed Mitt Romney, that too will have to change. I can only say two things—1) I was heartened by Rekha Basu’s column supporting President Obama, and 2) I was glad to see that my favorite writer, Richard Doak, a man of wisdom and repute, was not part of your unbelievable vetting process. You seem certain that Romney will not “adopt the reactionary agenda of the most extreme elements of the Republican Party.” Good luck with that. I see a man who will say anything to secure the party nomination, say the total opposite to sway the undecided voters, and will do everything in his power to please the money people behind him who are buying this election. Shame on the Des Moines Register. You can now change your motto to “The Newspaper Iowa Can’t Depend On.”
– Jean Conover, Mapleton
Here's your proof the people of Iowa rejected DMR endorsement.
http://abetteriowa.desmoinesregister.com/...