The well-worn advice that polite guests should avoid politics and religion at the dinner table surely must apply with renewed vigor to the chief executive of an information company which prides itself upon, and is constitutionally bound to maintain, its independence and freedom from bias. The polite and editorially-minded shall not be disappointed in me. However, I must confess that I have found this to be a difficult rule for me to obey during the past seven years. My friends and family know why.
What is fully in keeping with the Reuter Trust Principles is for me to observe that the American political system, with its seemingly endless and moneyed build-up, has now served up a genuine choice for the electorate. Purists will no doubt complain that the two-party system already represents a political bias in that it excludes many along the political spectrum, from the American Communist Party to the American Nazi Party. This is no doubt true, but like many things American, the system focuses on the pragmatic: who can really be elected?
I shall cast a personal and private vote this November, but as flawed as the electoral process surely is, I am grateful that I have a clear choice to make.