Media

Boston Herald staffers distance themselves from paper’s Trump endorsement

"The Herald's small editorial group sure as hell doesn't speak for me."

By Christopher Gavin

October 28, 2020

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Email
• 18

Following the Boston Herald‘s endorsement of President Donald Trump Tuesday, several of the newspaper’s staffers vocally distanced themselves from the editorial group’s stamp of approval.

Staffers took to Twitter to clarify their positions, some offering a crash course in the mechanics of newspaper endorsements, which are not penned by reporters.

“It’s really important to note the Boston Herald staff, as a unit, is not endorsing Trump. The ‘editorial group’ did,” wrote Jason Mastrodonato, a sports columnist at the Herald. “This was a decision made by a handful of people. I don’t want to speak for others, but it was a decision that was protested and does not speak for me.”

So, today is a tough day at the Boston Herald.

I had no idea when I filed my Red Sox story yesterday that I’d have my byline in a newspaper with this on the cover. I found out just a few hours before we went to print. https://t.co/vDIugEq0np

— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) October 27, 2020

Patriots beat writer Andrew Callahan, in a tweet, reminded readers the unnamed group of writers behind the endorsement operates independently from the newsroom.

“It does not represent all staff members,” he wrote. “Today, the Herald’s small editorial group sure as hell doesn’t speak for me.”

Reminder: A newspaper’s “editorial” group operates independently from the reporters in its newsroom. It does not represent all staff members.

Today, the Herald’s small editorial group sure as hell doesn’t speak for me. https://t.co/jIsMbbZM7Q

— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) October 27, 2020

The Herald‘s endorsement largely took aim at several points of Trump’s Democratic challenger and former vice president Joe Biden’s platform, including a proposal to increase taxes on the wealthy and plans to raise the corporate tax rate.

The editorial group also highlighted that Trump is “against defunding police, for holding China accountable for COVID-19 negligence and putting America first on trade, defense, the courts and, again, the economy.”

Trump himself tweeted about the endorsement, calling the write-up “a great honor.”

The Boston Herald endorses @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/LGjsS5Cbd4 pic.twitter.com/ZYBK7wvDAQ

— Tom Shattuck (@tomshattuck) October 27, 2020

The support for the president comes after the Herald notably chose not to endorse a candidate in 2016.

“Oh, there is a basket of deplorables out there, all right — to borrow a phrase from one of the presidential contenders,” the newspaper wrote at the time. “But it’s not among the voters. It’s the deplorable presidential choices voters have been handed this election year.”

Mastrodonato, in another tweet, wrote that he thought “there was sufficient momentum in that direction again” for the Nov. 3 election.

“There’s a lot more I can’t say but this outcome was not a slam dunk,” he wrote.

He noted that part of the role of newspapers is to hold people in power accountable.

“When we align ourselves with someone who doesn’t believe in checking power, who harasses those who do and calls them the ‘true enemy of the people,’ it’s a statement directly against what our staff is trying to accomplish,” he wrote.

“I have absolute confidence that we’ll continue reporting with fairness and honesty,” Mastrodonato added. “But it does feel particularly difficult today.”

I have absolute confidence that we’ll continue reporting with fairness and honesty. But it does feel particularly difficult today.

— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) October 27, 2020