The Dallas Morning News is offering massively discounted subscriptions to its readers in an effort to withstand the fallout caused by its editorial board’s endorsement of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
The endorsement has generated a lot of reader pushback in the form of angry comments, phone calls and vows to unsubscribe from the paper, which hasn’t endorsed a Democrat in 75 years. Editor Joe Wilson has acknowledged it came with a price of dropped subscriptions, but no one from the paper has revealed how many readers actually unsubscribed.
A Dallas Morning News customer service representative, however, told The Daily Caller News Foundation the paper is extending promotional online discounts on subscriptions in an effort to retain readers upset by the endorsement.
“[W]e are currently extending some of our online promotional offers here in the office for that reason,” she told TheDCNF in an email regarding changes in response to the endorsement. “Are [you] interested in re-subscribing if we are able to discount your rate?”
A number of promotions are running online Thursday, including seven-day home delivery at half price, which brings the cost of a subscription from about $576 down to less than $300. The paper called one of the readers who canceled his subscription after the endorsement, asking him why he unsubscribed and offering him a 50 percent discount if he reconsidered his decision. He declined.
“After I canceled my subscription, an agent from the DMN called me,” Keith Rosenkranz, a retired fighter pilot and combat veteran, told TheDCNF in an email. “She apologized for the endorsement and offered me 50 percent off the subscription if I would return. I declined. I also received a letter from the head of the editorial board. She asked me to reconsider as well. Once again, I declined.”
Wilson maintains the editorial board made the endorsement decision “based on principle,” and has engaged with upset readers to assure them he respects their view and wants everyone to vote in the election, regardless of their candidate of choice.
But some readers, including Rosenkranz, aren’t buying that explanation and are instead accusing the paper of expressing a blatant bias in favor of Clinton meant to sway its readers into her camp.
“It isn’t about healthy debate or ideological disagreement,” Rosenkranz told TheDCNF. “DMN has shown a blatant bias in their reporting. They leave select quotes out or highlight/twist comments in an effort to influence uninformed voters. As I said, it’s blatant and I, along with many others, finally had enough.”
Wilson declined to comment.
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