Newsletter

Endorsing a different kind of newspaper ownership

By Jim Friedlich

October 30, 2024

Last week, the owners of The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times overruled their editorial leadership and each decided not to endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election.  

On Friday, The Philadelphia Inquirer published its presidential endorsement, which featured in-depth reporting and deeply researched rationale for its opinion. The newspaper’s editorial board had earlier published its opinion – always labelled as such and clearly distinct from its news coverage – on a broad array of down-ballot state and local races.  

The difference? The Inquirer is owned by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Lenfest Institute for Journalism. The Inquirer is operated independently from the Institute. The Inquirer’s editors control its journalism, both news and opinion. That is exactly how the Institute’s founder, the late H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest, wanted it.  

Mr. Lenfest, a cable television entrepreneur, created The Lenfest Institute in 2016 and donated his full ownership of The Philadelphia Inquirer to this Philadelphia-based public charity dedicated to the future of independent local journalism throughout the United States. He structured the Institute specifically to ensure the Inquirer’s editorial independence and to support the long-term business vitality of both The Inquirer and other local news publishers. 

Mr. Lenfest’s vision, and the Institute’s guiding mission, is that every community needs and deserves a great news organization that puts the news and information needs of the public first. It is no coincidence that this experiment in public-service newspaper ownership began in the birthplace of American democracy: 

“Where better than Philadelphia,” Mr. Lenfest asked, “to invent the future of a free press?”  

There is an ongoing and robust discussion among journalists across the United States about whether newspapers should continue endorsing candidates for office. In a digital era, where the distinction between news and opinion isn’t always clear to readers, there are good-faith arguments that newspapers should simply report the facts and not endorse politicians. But those decisions should be made by editors and journalists months or years before important elections, not as voters are already heading to the polls. 

The Lenfest Institute and our unique business structure will ensure that The Inquirer can report and express its editorial views without fear or favor.   

 “I’ve never been more proud than I am today to work for a newspaper that was bought not just by a billionaire, but a true philanthropist, who so valued journalism – the only profession expressly protected by the U.S. Constitution – that he created a nonprofit to entrust us to,” Inquirer reporter Stephanie Farr wrote on social media.  

 Thanks as always for your support of The Lenfest Institute.

This essay was originally sent in The Lenfest Institute’s newsletter. You can subscribe here.