The Press: Changing Patterns

Measured by almost any gauge, editorial response to the 1964 presidential race defies the patterns of the past. Ordinarily, most papers reserve their endorsements for the final weeks of the campaign; this year side choosing began in July. Despite such evidence of strong and early partisan sentiment, more newspapers than ever before have decided to endorse neither candidate; a poll by Editor & Publisher magazine shows that one in three papers is a fence sitter, as against one in four in 1960. And a press establishment that has been as high as 67.3% Republican (in 1962, only 57.7% in 1960) has made Lyndon Johnson the first Democratic presidential candidate in modern times to get a majority of editorial support.

Conceal the Chorus. Behind these statistics, other patterns have taken shape. The illusion of neutrality, for instance, was only that, since nearly all of the fence-sitting papers have made plain which way they lean. And the unprecedented volume of Johnson endorsements could not conceal the fact that the chorus of approval fell noticeably short of enthusiasm.

The papers were not wild about Lyndon; they were wildly against Barry. Under an editorial headed “Lyndon Johnson for President,” the San Francisco Chronicle did little more than tee off on Goldwater: “We are convinced that Barry Goldwater’s political way of life contradicts almost everything the Chronicle has stood and fought for.”

Catching the Small Fry. As the final tally took shape, Johnson seemed to be getting most of the big papers and Barry most of the little ones. Last week, for example, along with the Chronicle, Johnson got the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, the Milwaukee Journal and the Detroit Free Press-which had to break a 15-week silence to register its choice. Strike-bound since July (see following story), the Free Press ran off several hundred copies of its presidential endorsement and sent them to wire services and community leaders. Goldwater, in the meanwhile, picked up such smaller papers as the Springfield, Mass., Union, the Titusville, Pa., Herald and the Newburgh, N.Y., Evening News.

But besides the big ones, Johnson has also landed his share of small fry: last week he gained the Utica, N.Y., Observer-Dispatch and the five-paper Lindsay-Schaub chain in Illinois. And Barry Goldwater has made a few big catches. His papers now include the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Oakland, Calif., Tribune and the Richmond News Leader.