The Press: Meet the Press

Supporting a candidate for office can backfire embarrassingly—as the Miami News (circ. 137,598) once discovered when, in the midst of a crusade against gamblers, it recommended a city council candidate who turned out to be a convicted bookie. Last year, when crew-cut Columnist William C. Baggs, 37, became editor of James M. Cox Jr.'s News, he reserved the right to name the candidates the paper would support. Baggs set up a six-man editorial board to grill candidates in off-the-record sessions. As Florida's Democratic primary campaign drew to a close this week, the result of Baggs's inquisition was an editorial policy far...