It seems like the important thing today isn’t supporting presidential candidates. This is very different from when I started my career; so the support of almost every newspaper was seen as an almost national event.

I think today’s current political climate is too unstable to tolerate such risks. Los Angeles Times And Washington PostTwo of the leading US newspapers have chosen not to support a candidate for decades. They didn’t take this position (or non-position, if you prefer) just to sideline Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. There had to be an underlying reason for this.

According to one view, the publishers of the newspapers in question raised the white flag to realize this fact. Approvals don’t matter anymore. Number of people who get their information from newspapers decreased in proportion to the explosion of social media. Mymothersbasement.com can support a candidate and get more mileage than a national newspaper like to mail. That seems to be the view, and that’s fair.

Another view is that Broadcasters aren’t worried about offending winning candidates, but they do oppose candidates they opposed during the campaign for fear they’ll get into trouble again. I hope not. If you choose to position yourself as a mover and shaker of public opinion, then the No. 1 quality should be the courage of your convictions, to hell with the torpedoes.

Anyone who reads the political columns I write already knows that I lean left. Most people who know me can probably guess who I support, so there’s no point in hiding it. I support Harris.

From people I know, I’d say it’s 50-50 on who will vote for whom. I have friends with whom I cannot even mention politics without discussing it; Those who call me “Communist”; and those who don’t even want to hear the word “election” because they can’t wait until it’s over (especially those New Hampshire ads).

I once loved the election season. My first presidential campaign as a journalist was 1972, and it was fascinating to see how it all came together. Four years later, I met some of his campaign staff when they came to Boston and felt a little more at ease. I even met Jimmy Carter and Hamilton Jordan at one of the first stops of the campaign, when no one thought he should pray.

The day after Ed King won the governorship in 1978, I went to his home in Winthrop and had coffee and donuts with him and a few reporters. I loved the campaigns and elections. I lived for them.

Now? I’m afraid of them. I need to surround myself to overcome these.

So I guess I can understand why national newspaper publishers might be reluctant to subject themselves to the toxic cesspool of today’s political climate. But at the same time, even if you question how effective newspaper supports will be, there needs to be a place for them too. We can’t leave this to bloggers and social media wannabes who fill the silo with letters and throw them everywhere with the enthusiasm of someone singing to the radio.

Mail And Times They are, or should be, part of the structure that upholds old-fashioned political standards of fairness and civility (and shame on them if they don’t), not part of the many others in this country who have escaped them.

After all, these are the papers that exposed Watergate and exposed some of the lies we were told during the Vietnam War.

My son, the mighty have fallen.

Steve Krause is a former writer and editor. Daily Item. He is now retired and has won many awards for his columns throughout his 43-year career. He can be reached at (email protected).