CHICAGO - Declaring that "he is ready," the Chicago Tribune on Friday endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the first time the newspaper has supported a Democratic nominee for president.
It was another high-profile endorsement for Obama, whose other newspaper backings include The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Both the Times and Tribune are owned by Chicago-based
Tribune Co.
The Chicago Sun-Times also teased its ...
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I didn't give a good rating to this story about another story--the Chicago Tribune's first endorsement of a Democratic candidate for President--for the sheer fact that it had all the signs of being rushed. Ideally, Deanna Bellandi would have contacted more prominent party spokespersons and put their quotes higher to give the story context; as it stands, 8 of its 13 paragraphs are rewrites of the Tribune's op-ed. NewsTrust readers should view the op-ed in the original rather than second-hand here. (Fabrice Florin also has submitted it for review under the "opinion" tab.) But I wanted to review this because Ms. Bellandi seems like a seasoned wire service reporter remembering, for instance, that if a quote is cited in the lead as it is here--"he is ready"--that the full citation must follow in the body of the story. The reason for my comment of Ms. Bellandi being rushed is she seems to have experienced a hectic week in the bureau, covering everything from a marathon to a deadly rescue helicopter crash to a well-written enterprise piece on Bill Ayers "the person" as opposed to "the radical." (I'll include the link below.) Just the same, I decided to do the review--after checking to see if another outlet carried a longer version--to note that every story sent out by the wires is subject to review, and this one, given the historic occasion, needed more substance.
Neither campaign immediately commented on the Tribune endorsement. But DePaul University political science professor Wayne Steger said the Tribune’s choice for president likely won’t matter much. “The literature indicates that endorsements have little effect,” he said.
To Ms. Bellandi’s credit, it does seem she tried to contact both parties and finally reached a DePaul political science professor. In that case, she needed to but the disclaimer about the two parties having no comment higher in the dispatch.
I know how busy a wire service bureau can get as I was a bureau chief.