As newspaper editorial boards lose influence, or withdraw from the space altogether, there are openings for others. In New York City, a group of veteran journalists are trying to fill the gap.
The collective — a who’s-who of New York journalists, including political writers, editors and columnists — are launching the project to vet candidates for higher office, in what they say is an effort to continue the tradition left behind by retreating local media outlets.
The group is tentatively called the New York Editorial Board, according to Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith, who helped assemble it in recent weeks. The self-styled board – “a group of journalists grilling politicians,” Smith said – is partly a reaction to The New York Times’ announcement in August that its editorial board will no longer endorse candidates in New York’s local elections.
“Maybe we can shame The Times back into some sense of civic responsibility,” Smith commented, speaking only for himself, not the group.
The timing is especially notable in the wake of last week’s indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, raising the possibility of a nonpartisan special election if he resigns. Several possible candidates are already circling. No matter what happens, the deepening crisis in and around the Adams administration will certainly draw more attention to the newfound collective.
Smith said the group will conduct on-the-record interviews with candidates. Individual members will then write and report what they learn, and may choose to make endorsements as a result.
But unlike most newspaper editorial boards, which are composed of opinion journalists that operate separately from a publication’s newsroom, the nascent New York Editorial Board is comprised of a mix of news editors, analysts, and columnists from across the city.
“This came out of organic conversations among friends about how to fill some of the hole left for independent, experienced journalistic editorial interviews that used to be an important test for public officials,” Smith said. “Public-interest journalism can also be a counterweight to the interest groups and transactions that dominate the politics of America’s greatest city.”
There is strength in numbers, or at least that’s the theory of the group. Politicians, they hope, will feel obliged to participate given the prominence of the local journalists going back generations.
The group will include NY1 anchor and CNN political analyst Errol Louis; Vital City managing editor Josh Greenman; The City executive editor Alyssa Katz; Daily News columnist Harry Siegel; Bklyner founder Liena Zagare; former Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max; and other distinguished journalists.
Smith said the group plans to start holding interviews with politicians after the November election.
