UPDATED
Washington Post Hit With 200,000-Plus Subscriber Cancelations After Jeff Bezos Nixed Presidential Endorsement: Report
Todd Spangler
VARIETY
Mon 28 October 2024
More than 200,000 people have canceled their subscriptions to the Washington Post — about 8% of its base — after Jeff Bezos, the paper’s owner and founder of Amazon, barred the editorial board from running a presidential endorsement, according to a report.
NPR, citing anonymous sources, cited the figure in a report and said the number of cancelations “continued to grow” on Monday afternoon. The controversy threatens to put a major dent in the Washington Post’s circulation of 2.5 million subscribers.
Reached by Variety, a Washington Post rep declined to comment on the report, noting that as a private company it doesn’t share subscriber numbers.
On Friday, Washington Post CEO and publisher William Lewis wrote in an article on the paper’s website that “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.” The Post has endorsed a candidate every year since 1976, with the exception of the 1988.
As first reported by NPR, Bezos — who bought the Washington Post in 2013 — recently decided that the newspaper would not endorse either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the 2024 election. The paper’s editorial board had already drafted an endorsement of Harris. Some observers (and, evidently, many subscribers) interpreted the move as an attempt by Bezos to avoid getting targeted for attack by Trump. The New York Times reported that executives from Bezos’ Blue Origin aerospace company met with Trump on Friday, and noted that Blue Origin has a $3.4 billion contract with the NASA to build a lunar lander.
In a statement Sunday, Lewis said, “The decision to end presidential endorsements was made entirely internally and neither campaign nor candidate was given a heads up or consulted in any way at any level. Any reporting to the contrary is simply incorrect.”
A report published Sunday by the Washington Post said “outrage at the decision” by Bezos spanned not just readers but “journalism leaders, politicians and dismayed employees.” According to the report, some Post journalists used the newspaper’s internal analytics tool “to chart the soaring number of subscribers visiting the customer account page that allows them to cancel their subscriptions.”
Two contributors to the Washington Post’s opinion pages — Michele Norris and Robert Kagan — severed tied with the paper in protest. In addition, 20 Post opinion columnists have co-signed a column blasting the decision to not endorse a presidential candidate as “an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love.”
On Friday, former Post editor Marty Baron called the paper’s decision “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty,” in a post on X. Baron wrote that “@realdonaldtrump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner @jeffbezos (and others). Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
Former Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, whose reporting brought down Richard Nixon, also bashed the decision on Friday, saying, “We respect the traditional independence of the editorial page, but this decision 11 days out from the 2024 presidential election ignores the Washington Post’s own overwhelming reportorial evidence on the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy. Under Jeff Bezos’s ownership, the Washington Post’s news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and damage a second Trump presidency could cause to the future of American democracy and that makes this decision even more surprising and disappointing, especially this late in the electoral process.”
A similar controversy has beset the Los Angeles Times.
Mon 28 October 2024
More than 200,000 people have canceled their subscriptions to the Washington Post — about 8% of its base — after Jeff Bezos, the paper’s owner and founder of Amazon, barred the editorial board from running a presidential endorsement, according to a report.
NPR, citing anonymous sources, cited the figure in a report and said the number of cancelations “continued to grow” on Monday afternoon. The controversy threatens to put a major dent in the Washington Post’s circulation of 2.5 million subscribers.
Reached by Variety, a Washington Post rep declined to comment on the report, noting that as a private company it doesn’t share subscriber numbers.
On Friday, Washington Post CEO and publisher William Lewis wrote in an article on the paper’s website that “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.” The Post has endorsed a candidate every year since 1976, with the exception of the 1988.
As first reported by NPR, Bezos — who bought the Washington Post in 2013 — recently decided that the newspaper would not endorse either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the 2024 election. The paper’s editorial board had already drafted an endorsement of Harris. Some observers (and, evidently, many subscribers) interpreted the move as an attempt by Bezos to avoid getting targeted for attack by Trump. The New York Times reported that executives from Bezos’ Blue Origin aerospace company met with Trump on Friday, and noted that Blue Origin has a $3.4 billion contract with the NASA to build a lunar lander.
In a statement Sunday, Lewis said, “The decision to end presidential endorsements was made entirely internally and neither campaign nor candidate was given a heads up or consulted in any way at any level. Any reporting to the contrary is simply incorrect.”
A report published Sunday by the Washington Post said “outrage at the decision” by Bezos spanned not just readers but “journalism leaders, politicians and dismayed employees.” According to the report, some Post journalists used the newspaper’s internal analytics tool “to chart the soaring number of subscribers visiting the customer account page that allows them to cancel their subscriptions.”
Two contributors to the Washington Post’s opinion pages — Michele Norris and Robert Kagan — severed tied with the paper in protest. In addition, 20 Post opinion columnists have co-signed a column blasting the decision to not endorse a presidential candidate as “an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love.”
On Friday, former Post editor Marty Baron called the paper’s decision “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty,” in a post on X. Baron wrote that “@realdonaldtrump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner @jeffbezos (and others). Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
Former Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, whose reporting brought down Richard Nixon, also bashed the decision on Friday, saying, “We respect the traditional independence of the editorial page, but this decision 11 days out from the 2024 presidential election ignores the Washington Post’s own overwhelming reportorial evidence on the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy. Under Jeff Bezos’s ownership, the Washington Post’s news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and damage a second Trump presidency could cause to the future of American democracy and that makes this decision even more surprising and disappointing, especially this late in the electoral process.”
A similar controversy has beset the Los Angeles Times.
Liz Cheney: Jeff Bezos ‘afraid’ to endorse
Harris in Washington Post
Joanne Haner
THE HILL
Mon, October 28, 2024
Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) criticized Jeff Bezos after The Washington Post, which the billionaire owns, broke with decades of the newspaper’s history and decided not to make an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race.
Cheney said during an interview with David Remnick at the annual New Yorker festival on Saturday that Bezos was “afraid” to issue an endorsement for Vice President Harris.
““When you have Jeff Bezos apparently afraid to issue an endorsement for the only candidate in the race who’s a stable responsible adult because he fears Donald Trump, that tells you why we have to work so hard to make sure that Donald Trump isn’t elected,” she said. “And I think also, why we ought to not forget what has happened, forget who’s taken brave and courageous stands.”
Cheney also said she canceled her subscription to the Post.
Its publisher, William Lewis, announced Friday the outlet would no longer take stances in presidential elections, breaking 36 years of precedent. The Post, which backed President Biden in 2020 and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, did endorse other candidates this cycle.
“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility,” Lewis wrote. “That is inevitable. We don’t see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for.”
The Post later reported Bezos, who owns the publication, killed an endorsement its editorial board had drafted.
Former Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein issued a statement condemning the publication’s decision on Friday.
“Under Jeff Bezos’s ownership, the Washington Post’s news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and damage a second Trump presidency could cause to the future of American democracy and that makes this decision even more surprising and disappointing, especially this late in the electoral process,” the journalists wrote in the statement.
A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment on Cheney’s remarks.
Updated at 12:01 p.m. EDT
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Bezos insists no quid pro quo in decision to pull Washington Post’s Harris endorsement as staff and subscribers quit
Josh Marcus
Mon 28 October 2024
Bezos insists no quid pro quo in decision to pull Washington Post’s Harris endorsement as staff and subscribers quit
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is defending the decision of The Washington Post, which he owns, to end its tradition of presidential endorsements ahead of Election Day.
The billionaire argued in a Post opinion piece on Monday that endorsements have little practical effect and contribute to record-high perceptions that the media is untrustworthy.
“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” Bezos wrote. “No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, ‘I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.’ None. What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence.”
Post journalists and subscribers decried the move to end endorsements, which was announced last week as the paper’s editorial board reportedly prepared to back Kamala Harris.
The decision led to multiple resignations in protest.
Journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who helmed the paper’s iconic coverage of Watergate, criticized the move.
“We respect the traditional independence of the editorial page, but this decision 11 days out from the 2024 presidential election ignores the Washington Post’s own overwhelming reportorial evidence on the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy,” the men wrote in a statement. “Under Jeff Bezos’s ownership, the Washington Post’s news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and damage a second Trump presidency could cause to the future of American democracy and that makes this decision even more surprising and disappointing, especially this late in the electoral process.”
The announcement also led to a staggering wave of canceled subscriptions, with more than 200,000 reportedly ending their support of the Post as of Monday, an estimated eight percent of the paper’s total paid circulation.
Some critics of the decision argued the Post was avoiding criticizing Trump because owner Bezos frequently does business with the federal government through his Blue Origin space company and other ventures.
Others argued the endorsement was part of Bezos’s reported interest in expanding the paper’s reach with consersatives.
Robert Kagan, a longtime columnist and editor at the Post, who resigned in protest, accused Bezos of engaging in a “quid pro quo,” pointing to a meeting between Blue Origin executives and Trump that came after the paper’s announcement.
In his article, Bezos denied this assertion, though he acknowledged “when it comes to the appearance of conflict, I am not an ideal owner of The Post,” because of the numerous contacts between his business and philanthropic interests and the government.
“I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here,” Bezos wrote. “Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision. It was made entirely internally.”
Last week, William Lewis, the publisher and CEO of the Post, defended the decision in an editor’s note, pointing to the paper’s history of going periods without making an endorsement.
“We also see it as a statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds on this, the most consequential of American decisions — whom to vote for as the next president,” Lewis wrote.
The Washington stalwart isn’t the only billionaire-owned paper facing pushback over its editorial board.
The Los Angeles Times also declined to endorse a candidate this election, with news reports and former staffers accusing owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong of canceling a planned Harris endorsement, while the owner claims the editorial board didn’t comply with a request to supply non-partisan evaluations of both candidates.
Washington Post Subscriptions In Free Fall After Bezos Blocks Presidential Endorsement
Ryan Grenoble
HUFFPOST
Mon 28 October 2024
The Washington Post is hemorrhaging subscribers after its editorial page announced last week that it would no longer make presidential endorsements ― a decision critics say amounts to bending the knee to Donald Trump.
Two sources with knowledge of the Post’s subscription base told NPR that more than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by midday Monday, with more still coming in.
That’s equivalent to roughly 8% of the paper’s paid circulation, which, including print, sits at around 2.5 million subscribers.
A spokesperson for The Washington Post declined to comment, noting that the paper is a private company with no obligation to share its subscriber numbers.
A handful of staffers have resigned in protest, including editor-at-large Robert Kagan. Molly Roberts and David Hoffman, both members of the paper’s editorial board, have resigned from their positions on the board but will remain at the paper.
Roberts said Monday she was resigning “because the imperative to endorse Kamala Harris over Donald Trump is about as morally clear as it gets.”
“Worse, our silence is exactly what Donald Trump wants: for the media, for us, to keep quiet.”
Publisher and CEO William Lewis cast the decision last week to block a forthcoming endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as a return to the paper’s “roots.”
But The Washington Post Guild quickly dispelled that spin.
“According to our own reporters and Guild members, an endorsement for Harris was already drafted, and the decision to not publish was made by The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos,” the Guild said in a statement.
Bezos, the billionaire CEO of Amazon, holds contracts with the government worth billions. Presumably Bezos is concerned about endangering those contracts should Trump win.
The Guild struck a conciliatory tone while urging readers not to cancel their subscriptions.
“We know today’s news is troubling and some of you want to cancel your subscriptions,” they wrote. “Please remember the hardworking employees of The Washington Post - our Guild members - had nothing to do with this decision. We are the ones who make The Post and we hope you stick with us.”
Jeff Bezos Says “Presidential Endorsements Do Nothing” Amid Washington Post Subscriber Exodus
Mon 28 October 2024
The Washington Post is hemorrhaging subscribers after its editorial page announced last week that it would no longer make presidential endorsements ― a decision critics say amounts to bending the knee to Donald Trump.
Two sources with knowledge of the Post’s subscription base told NPR that more than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by midday Monday, with more still coming in.
That’s equivalent to roughly 8% of the paper’s paid circulation, which, including print, sits at around 2.5 million subscribers.
A spokesperson for The Washington Post declined to comment, noting that the paper is a private company with no obligation to share its subscriber numbers.
A handful of staffers have resigned in protest, including editor-at-large Robert Kagan. Molly Roberts and David Hoffman, both members of the paper’s editorial board, have resigned from their positions on the board but will remain at the paper.
Roberts said Monday she was resigning “because the imperative to endorse Kamala Harris over Donald Trump is about as morally clear as it gets.”
“Worse, our silence is exactly what Donald Trump wants: for the media, for us, to keep quiet.”
Publisher and CEO William Lewis cast the decision last week to block a forthcoming endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as a return to the paper’s “roots.”
But The Washington Post Guild quickly dispelled that spin.
“According to our own reporters and Guild members, an endorsement for Harris was already drafted, and the decision to not publish was made by The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos,” the Guild said in a statement.
Bezos, the billionaire CEO of Amazon, holds contracts with the government worth billions. Presumably Bezos is concerned about endangering those contracts should Trump win.
The Guild struck a conciliatory tone while urging readers not to cancel their subscriptions.
“We know today’s news is troubling and some of you want to cancel your subscriptions,” they wrote. “Please remember the hardworking employees of The Washington Post - our Guild members - had nothing to do with this decision. We are the ones who make The Post and we hope you stick with us.”
Jeff Bezos Says “Presidential Endorsements Do Nothing” Amid Washington Post Subscriber Exodus
Zoe G. Phillips
Mon 28 October 2024
The Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos wrote in an op-ed on Monday that the paper’s choice to cease presidential endorsements was borne from an attempt to regain the trust of its readers.
“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” Bezos wrote. “What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence.”
Post CEO Will Lewis announced in a memo on Thursday that the paper would not endorse a candidate for president — the first time since 1988 — and will cease to do so for future elections. The news came three days after the Los Angeles Times announced similar plans.
In his editorial on Monday, Bezos wrote that their decision was one way to rebuild the public’s trust, he said had been degraded by “off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources.” He also referenced a Gallup poll reporting that Americans’ trust in the media had fallen below that of Congress.
“Most people believe the media is biased,” Bezos wrote. “Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose.”
The Amazon billionaire went on to invoke Eugene Meyer, publisher of The Washington Post from 1933 to 1946, who also refused to endorse presidential candidates. “He was right,” Bezos wrote.
Bezos also said he wished “we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it,” saying the decision “was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.”
Acknowledging the critics who say Bezos made the decision out of his own business interests, Bezos wrote that readers “can see my wealth and business interests as a bulwark against intimidation, or you can see them as a web of conflicting interests,” but that “only my own principles can tip the balance from one to the other.”
He concluded, “While I do not and will not push my personal interest, I will also not allow this paper to stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance.”
The Post has seen a mass exodus of subscribers since last week, with 200,000 gone by Monday, NPR reported. Among them was Liz Cheney, who said at a New Yorker event that “when you have Jeff Bezos apparently afraid to issue an endorsement for the only candidate in the race who’s a stable responsible adult because he fears Donald Trump, that tells you why we have to work so hard to make sure that Donald Trump isn’t elected.”
Jeff Bezos Defends Washington Post's Non-Endorsement In Presidential Race As Subscriptions Plummet
Taiyler S. Mitchell
Updated Mon 28 October 2024
Billionaire Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos claimed that newspaper endorsements are pointless to voters and only demonstrate bias, according to his Monday opinion article in The Washington Post, which he owns.
His remarks come after The Washington Post’s shocking decision last week not to endorse a presidential candidate drew backlash online and led to a decrease in subscribers and multiple staff resignations. Bezos painted the decision as a response to the lack of trust in media among American readers.
“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” Bezos argued. “What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias.”
According to The Washington Post Guild, the paper had an endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris drafted before publisher and CEO William Lewis announced that the Post was returning to its “roots.”
The Post has regularly endorsed a candidate since 1976, when it designated support for Jimmy Carter as president.
Opponents of the decision have reasoned that no endorsement is, in fact, an endorsement of Trump.
Molly Roberts, who resigned from the paper’s editorial board, argued that not making an endorsement, particularly for Harris, is morally unsound.
“Worse, our silence is exactly what Donald Trump wants: for the media, for us, to keep quiet,” Roberts added.
Jeff Bezos attends an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Sept. 14 at the Sphere in the Las Vegas area. Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Former Post executive editor Marty Baron speculated that “Bezos has other commercial interests, a big stake in Amazon, he has a space company called Blue Origin,” CNN reported.
“Trump rewards his friends and he punishes his perceived political enemies, and I think there’s no other explanation for what’s happening right now,” Baron said.
However, Bezos denied any speculation that the decision was connected to former President Donald Trump or Harris in his piece Monday.
“Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision. It was made entirely internally,” Bezos wrote, acknowledging that his wealth and status complicate his role as owner of the paper.
He closed his piece by indicating that the decision makes it so the Post wholly fills the role of a “credible, trusted, independent voice,” adding that the Post’s journalists “deserve to be believed.”
The Washington Post Snuck In an Endorsement After All—From Its Humor Writer
Lily Mae Lazarus
Sun, October 27, 2024
Kamala Harris, Washington Post split
The Washington Post’s abstention from publishing a proper presidential endorsement has led to the newspaper’s humor columnist issuing her own official message of support for Kamala Harris.
Alexandra Petri, who pens “a lighter take on the news and opinions of the day” for the Post, used her Saturday column to respond to the publication’s decision to its return to its “roots” of not endorsing political candidates—a practice the paper had abandoned some half a century ago.
The Post's editorial board had reportedly written an endorsement of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, but the piece was allegedly killed at the request of the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos (a claim denied by the paper’s publisher, Will Lewis). The decision sparked much discontent among the publication‘s news and opinion staffers—and far beyond the paper’s pages too.
“I would be a little embarrassed that it has fallen to me, the humor columnist, to make our presidential endorsement,” Petri wrote. “I will spare you the suspense: I am endorsing Kamala Harris for president, because I like elections and want to keep having them.”
The Post’s readership, she argued, deserves and expects “that we are saying what we really think, reporting what we really see; that if we think Trump should not return to the White House and Harris would make a fine president, we’re going to be able to say so.”
Petri’s column echoed her colleagues’ criticism, after more than a dozen staffers slammed the Post’s decision to pull their endorsement in a Friday column as “an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love.”
“This is a moment for the institution to be making clear its commitment to democratic values, the rule of law and international alliances, and the threat that Donald Trump poses to them—the precise points The Post made in endorsing Trump’s opponents in 2016 and 2020," the columnists wrote.
Other Post stalwarts went further still. The paper’s now ex-editor at large and longtime columnist, Robert Kagan, stepped down from his position shortly after the non-endorsement announcement.
He accused Bezos of setting up a “quid pro quo” deal with Trump, after executives at Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, met with the former president the same day that the paper nixed its pro-Harris piece..
Fellow columnist Michele Norris followed suit, resigning from the Post on Sunday.
Norris explained her decision to leave the paper in a Twittet thread, writing that the Post’s “decision to withhold an endorsement that had been written & approved in an election where core democratic principles are at stake was a terrible mistake & an insult to the paper’s own longstanding standard.”
USA Today joins the Washington Post and L.A. Times in not endorsing a presidential candidate. Here’s a closer look at the controversy.
As major newspapers abandon candidate endorsements, some journalists are calling it a betrayal of democratic responsibility.
David ArtaviaReporter
Mon, October 28, 2024
EDMONTON, CANADA - APRIL 28: An image of a woman holding a cell phone in front of the USA Today logo displayed on a computer screen, on April 29, 2024, in Edmonton, Canada.
Joining newspapers like the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, USA Today announced Monday that it would not endorse a presidential candidate for the 2024 election.
A spokesperson for USA Today told the Daily Beast that instead of an endorsement, the paper will provide “readers with the facts that matter and the trusted information they need to make informed decisions.”
The Post’s publisher, Will Lewis, framed the decision as a return to the paper’s roots as an independent voice — though the editorial board says it had drafted an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris that was allegedly blocked by owner Jeff Bezos (a claim Lewis denies).
The Post's humor writer, Alexandra Petri, ended up using her column to endorse Harris after the fact. Post editor at large Robert Kagan and opinion columnist Michele Norris publicly resigned in response to the non-endorsement. As of Monday afternoon, over 200,000 readers cancelled their subscriptions, per NPR.
At the L.A. Times, owner Patrick Soon-Shiong defended the decision not to endorse, stating he was merely respecting a decision made by his paper’s editorial board. However, several board members openly disputed this, asserting they had prepared an endorsement for Harris that was ultimately blocked by Soon-Shiong. The fallout was swift, with multiple staffers issuing their resignations and readers declaring that they would cancel their subscriptions, prompting the union that represents many Times employees to issue a statement urging them not to do so.
The L.A. Times had endorsed a presidential candidate each cycle since 2004, while the Post’s presidential endorsements date back to 1988. USA Today, which endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, has been making presidential endorsements since 1982.
The move by the papers to opt out of backing a candidate in the coming presidential election follows a trend that has been building among newspapers in recent years, as organizations have become wary of alienating subscribers and deepening political divides.
Here’s a closer look at the evolution of such endorsements and the debate over whether newspapers should continue to make them.
Newspaper endorsements are wavering
Historically, newspaper endorsements — from presidential races to local elections — served as a guide, offering readers insight into candidates’ qualifications through the publication’s editorial lens.
In today’s polarized climate, however, endorsements have turned into a double-edged sword. Critics contend that they can amplify perceptions of bias and partisanship, potentially alienating segments of a paper’s readership.
As a result, many publications have opted out of endorsements entirely.
In 2022, for example, over 200 outlets owned by investment firm Alden Global Capital, including the Chicago Tribune and Denver Post, announced they would cease endorsing major political candidates, citing public discourse and the prevalence of “culture wars.”
Similarly, the New York Times stated earlier this year that it would stop endorsing candidates in state races, although it would continue backing U.S. presidential candidates. The Minnesota Star Tribune followed suit in August, choosing not to endorse candidates or causes in 2024, pledging instead to offer robust analysis to help readers make informed decisions.
Post and L.A. Times staffers resign in protest
The decisions by the Post and L.A. Times not to endorse a presidential candidate led to multiple resignations. The timing of that choice — less than two weeks before the election — was particularly concerning for some editors.
Former Post executive editor Marty Baron described the move as “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”
L.A. Times editorials editor Mariel Garza wrote in her resignation letter, “People will justifiably wonder if each endorsement was a decision made by a group of journalists after extensive research and discussion, or through decree by the owner,” according to the Wrap.
According to the Washington Post, L.A. Times journalists Robert Greene and Karin Klein also stepped down in protest, with Greene sharing a statement with the Columbia Journalism Review explaining that the paper’s decision “hurt particularly because one of the candidates, Donald Trump, has demonstrated such hostility to principles that are central to journalism — respect for the truth and reverence for democracy.”
In a statement shared on Facebook, Klein stressed that Soon-Shiong “blocked our voice” when he decided to scrap the editorial team’s endorsement of Harris.
L.A. Times owner's daughter speaks out
On Saturday, Patrick Soon-Shiong's daughter, Nika Soon-Shiong, told the New York Times that her father’s decision not to endorse Harris was driven by Harris’s support for Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
“Our family made the joint decision not to endorse a presidential candidate. This was the first and only time I have been involved in the process,” she said. “As a citizen of a country openly financing genocide, and as a family that experienced South African apartheid, the endorsement was an opportunity to repudiate justifications for the widespread targeting of journalists and ongoing war on children.”
Patrick Soon-Shiong, who purchased the Times in 2018 for $500 million, later refuted her comments, telling CNN that his daughter "speaks in her own personal capacity."
“She does not have any role at the L.A. Times, nor does she participate in any decision or discussion with the editorial board, as has been made clear many times,” he said.
Cancellations are mounting
The guild that represents many L.A. Times employees acknowledged that readers have threatened to cancel their subscriptions, while pleading with them not to abandon the publication that pays their salaries.
“Before you hit the ‘cancel’ button: That subscription underwrites the salaries of hundreds of journalists in our newsroom,” the statement said. “Our member-journalists work every day to keep readers informed during these tumultuous times. A healthy democracy is an informed democracy.”
Meanwhile, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican, and author Stephen King announced they’ve canceled their subscriptions to the Post. Over 200,00 other readers have reportedly followed suit.
Former editors blame billionaire owners
Some journalists argue that these non-endorsements prioritize the interests of the papers’ billionaire owners — Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong — over their readers, suggesting they are motivated by a desire to avoid backlash from Donald Trump if he wins the presidency.
Kagan highlighted this perceived conflict of interest in an interview with CNN.
“This is obviously an effort by Jeff Bezos to curry favor with Donald Trump,” he said. “Trump has threatened to go after Bezos’s business. Bezos runs one of the largest companies in America. They have tremendously intricate relations with the federal government. They depend on the federal government.”
As of Sunday, Oct. 27, Bezos has yet to respond to the outcry.
Which papers have endorsed Harris or Trump?
While some papers have stepped back from endorsing candidates, others remain committed to the practice.
As of Sunday, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, the Las Vegas Sun and the New Yorker have endorsed Harris.
Meanwhile, Trump has received backing from the New York Post, the Washington Times and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Washington Post editorial board members step down over decision not to endorse VP Harris
Brian Flood
The Washington Post announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate this year, or in future years, citing a return to the "Democracy Dies in Darkness" paper’s roots.
Hoffman wrote a letter to Post opinion chief David Shipley that he thought the board would continue to voice its values by not openly opposing former President Trump.
"For decades, The Washington Post’s editorials have been a beacon of light, signaling hope to dissidents, political prisoners and the voiceless. When victims of repression were harassed, exiled, imprisoned, and murdered, we made sure the whole world knew the truth. This was a driving force in my 12 years on the Editorial Board, cumulating in our 2023 series, ‘Annals of Autocracy,’ which owed much to your leadership of Opinions," Hoffman wrote.
"Until Friday, I assumed we would apply the same values and principles to an editorial endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump. I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment," he continued. "I stand against silence in the face of dictatorship. Here, there, everywhere. I am stepping down from the editorial board."
Before Non-endorsement Decision, Washington Post Called Trump 'Dreadful' And 'Worst President Of Modern Times'
Hoffman added: "While leaving the board, I refuse to give up on The Post, where I have spent 42 years. I believe the reporters, editors and columnists at The Post are determined to fulfill its mission as a pillar of American democracy. I am committed to several important projects now underway, including the expanded effort to support press freedom around the world."
Post columnist Michele Norris and Post editor at large Robert Kagan have already resigned in protest of the paper's decision.
A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment.
Owner Jeff Bezos defends Washington Post's decision not to endorse as the right, 'principled' one
DAVID BAUDER
Updated Mon, October 28, 2024
FILE - People walk by the One Franklin Square Building, home of The Washington Post newspaper, in downtown Washington, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
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NEW YORK (AP) — Billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on Monday defended the newspaper's decision not to endorse a presidential candidate as “right” and “principled” and pushed back against any notion that he ordered it up to protect his business interests.
That decision, announced Friday, has reportedly led to tens of thousands of people canceling their subscriptions and protests from journalists with a deep history at the newspaper. The Post's editorial staff was prepared to endorse Democrat Kamala Harris before publisher Will Lewis wrote instead that it would be better for readers to make up their own minds.
Bezos, in “a note from our owner” published Monday evening, said that editorial endorsements create a perception of bias at a time many Americans don't believe the media, and do nothing to tip the scales of an election.
“Ending them is a principled decision, and it's the right one,” Bezos said.
Bezos wrote that he wished the decision to end presidential endorsements had been done earlier, “in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it. That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.”
The decision has caused ripples for days
Bezos' decision caused an unprecedented spasm of anger both within journalism and outside it.
NPR reported on Monday that more than 200,000 people have canceled their subscriptions to the newspaper, citing “two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters.” A Post spokeswoman, Olivia Petersen, would not comment on the NPR report.
A loss of subscriptions of that magnitude would be a blow to a storied news outlet that is already facing financial headwinds. The Post had more than 2.5 million subscribers last year, the bulk of them digital, making it third behind The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal in circulation.
In the decision's wake, two of the newspaper's columnists quit, and three of the nine members of the editorial board resigned their posts. The Post’s retired former editor, Martin Baron, who was editor when Bezos bought the paper, had denounced the decision on social media as “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”
The Post’s decision came only days after the Los Angeles Times also said it would not endorse a presidential candidate, which the newspaper has acknowledged has cost them thousands of subscribers.
Bezos insists fear of business retaliation wasn't a factor
Some critics suggested Bezos, also owner of Amazon, ordered the non-endorsement to protect his business interests, acting out of fear of retaliation if Donald Trump were elected. The Post endorsed Trump’s Democratic rivals in 2016 and 2020, and Trump has often denounced critical coverage by the paper.
In his column, Bezos said people can see his wealth and business interests as one of two things — a bulwark against intimidation or a web of conflicting interests. He insisted that his views are principled and that his track record as Post owner since 2013 backs that up.
“I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at the Post in favor of my own interests,” he wrote. “It hasn't happened.”
He acknowledged that the chief executive of one of his companies, the space-exploration outfit Blue Origin, met with Trump last week on the same day the non-endorsement was announced.
“I sighed when I found out, because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision,” Bezos wrote. “But the fact is, I didn't know about the meeting beforehand.”
He said that while he doesn't and won't push his own personal interests, he wouldn't allow the Post to “stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance.”
“Many of the finest journalists you'll find anywhere work at The Washington Post, and they work painstakingly every day to get to the truth,” he said. “They deserve to be believed.”
___
David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
Post endorsement controversy sparks staff resignations, protests
Dominick Mastrangelo
Mon, October 28, 2024
(The Hill) — A decision by The Washington Post to not endorse a candidate for president in next week’s election is sparking vocal protests and resignations from some staffers.
Post publisher and CEO William Lewis announced Friday that the Post would not be making an endorsement, a move that has angered staffers and stoked fears about the newspaper’s editorial independence.
The Post itself reported hours later that Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon who owns the newspaper, personally made the decision not to run an endorsement after the Post’s editorial board had already drafted its endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.
The first protest was from Post editor Robert Kagan, who told the news outlet Semafor he would step down from the publication.
Ballot boxes burned in Oregon, Washington
On Monday, Molly Roberts, a member of the Post’s editorial board, said she was also stepping down because “the imperative to endorse Kamala Harris over Donald Trump is about as morally clear as it gets.”
“Worse, our silence is exactly what Donald Trump wants,” Roberts wrote in a statement. “For the media, for us, to keep quiet.”
A third staffer, David Hoffman, a Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist, wrote in a note to his editors obtained by The New York Times that he was stepping down from the Post’s editorial board but would remain at the newspaper.
“While leaving the board, I refuse to give up on The Post, where I have spent 42 years,” he wrote.
In his announcement on Friday, Lewis acknowledged the decision to not endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in more than 30 years was likely to receive blowback.
“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility,” the newspaper’s publisher wrote. “That is inevitable. We don’t see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for.”
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Jeff Bezos Denies Business Interests Influenced Decision to Kill Kamala Harris Endorsement
Ross A. Lincoln
Mon, October 28, 2024
Jeff Bezos is insisting that concerns about his businesses played no role in his decision to kill the Washington Post editorial board’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris.
In an editorial published Monday afternoon in the Washington Post, Bezos also justified the decision — which has so far cost the paper hundreds of thousands of subscribers as well as some of its most high profile writers — by citing widespread distrust of media among Americans.
Bezos also did not acknowledge or address any of the reporting about his role in the scandal, which has mired WaPo in an existential crisis.
First citing a recent Gallup poll showing that Americans now trust media less than Congress, Bezos asserted, “Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working.”
The Amazon boss complained that many people believe the media is biased, stating in part, “We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate,” before moving on to deny that newspaper endorsements even matter. “Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” he said, arguing instead that they “create a perception of bias.”
Bezos didn’t directly address reporting by the New York Times this weekend that he decided against any endorsement at all more than a month ago, but for reasons unexplained, didn’t inform the editorial board until after they had submitted one, guaranteeing negative headlines for Harris.
He did, however, deny there was anything suspicious about that timing. “I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it. That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy,” Bezos wrote.
“Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision,” he also noted. “It was made entirely internally.” Bezos further said that he had no advance knowledge that Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp was going to meet with Donald Trump the same day he killed the Harris endorsement. “I sighed when I found out, because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision. But the fact is, I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand.”
Criticism of Bezos’ decision not to endorse is particularly sharp as it came on the heels of the similarly controversial call by Los Angeles Times owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong. Both non-endorsements have prompted multiple resignations and a surge of subscriber cancellations.
The Columbia Journalism Review reported that discussions about the Post’s usual presidential endorsement “stalled” a few weeks ago. As with the Times, staffers at the Post said that they had already written an endorsement for Harris, and were “stunned” to learn that the paper’s owner chose not to run it.
Several editorial board members have stepped down in the meantime, including David Hoffman, who just won a Pulitzer Prize last week. In his letter, he wrote, “I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment.”
“Donald Trump is not yet a dictator. But the quieter we are, the closer he comes — because dictators don’t have to order the press to publish cooperatively if it wishes to go on publishing at all. The press knows, and it censors itself,” Molly Roberts, who also stepped down from the board, wrote.
Lily Mae Lazarus
Sun, October 27, 2024
Kamala Harris, Washington Post split
The Washington Post’s abstention from publishing a proper presidential endorsement has led to the newspaper’s humor columnist issuing her own official message of support for Kamala Harris.
Alexandra Petri, who pens “a lighter take on the news and opinions of the day” for the Post, used her Saturday column to respond to the publication’s decision to its return to its “roots” of not endorsing political candidates—a practice the paper had abandoned some half a century ago.
The Post's editorial board had reportedly written an endorsement of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, but the piece was allegedly killed at the request of the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos (a claim denied by the paper’s publisher, Will Lewis). The decision sparked much discontent among the publication‘s news and opinion staffers—and far beyond the paper’s pages too.
“I would be a little embarrassed that it has fallen to me, the humor columnist, to make our presidential endorsement,” Petri wrote. “I will spare you the suspense: I am endorsing Kamala Harris for president, because I like elections and want to keep having them.”
The Post’s readership, she argued, deserves and expects “that we are saying what we really think, reporting what we really see; that if we think Trump should not return to the White House and Harris would make a fine president, we’re going to be able to say so.”
Petri’s column echoed her colleagues’ criticism, after more than a dozen staffers slammed the Post’s decision to pull their endorsement in a Friday column as “an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love.”
“This is a moment for the institution to be making clear its commitment to democratic values, the rule of law and international alliances, and the threat that Donald Trump poses to them—the precise points The Post made in endorsing Trump’s opponents in 2016 and 2020," the columnists wrote.
Other Post stalwarts went further still. The paper’s now ex-editor at large and longtime columnist, Robert Kagan, stepped down from his position shortly after the non-endorsement announcement.
He accused Bezos of setting up a “quid pro quo” deal with Trump, after executives at Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, met with the former president the same day that the paper nixed its pro-Harris piece..
Fellow columnist Michele Norris followed suit, resigning from the Post on Sunday.
Norris explained her decision to leave the paper in a Twittet thread, writing that the Post’s “decision to withhold an endorsement that had been written & approved in an election where core democratic principles are at stake was a terrible mistake & an insult to the paper’s own longstanding standard.”
USA Today joins the Washington Post and L.A. Times in not endorsing a presidential candidate. Here’s a closer look at the controversy.
As major newspapers abandon candidate endorsements, some journalists are calling it a betrayal of democratic responsibility.
David ArtaviaReporter
Mon, October 28, 2024
EDMONTON, CANADA - APRIL 28: An image of a woman holding a cell phone in front of the USA Today logo displayed on a computer screen, on April 29, 2024, in Edmonton, Canada.
Joining newspapers like the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, USA Today announced Monday that it would not endorse a presidential candidate for the 2024 election.
A spokesperson for USA Today told the Daily Beast that instead of an endorsement, the paper will provide “readers with the facts that matter and the trusted information they need to make informed decisions.”
The Post’s publisher, Will Lewis, framed the decision as a return to the paper’s roots as an independent voice — though the editorial board says it had drafted an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris that was allegedly blocked by owner Jeff Bezos (a claim Lewis denies).
The Post's humor writer, Alexandra Petri, ended up using her column to endorse Harris after the fact. Post editor at large Robert Kagan and opinion columnist Michele Norris publicly resigned in response to the non-endorsement. As of Monday afternoon, over 200,000 readers cancelled their subscriptions, per NPR.
At the L.A. Times, owner Patrick Soon-Shiong defended the decision not to endorse, stating he was merely respecting a decision made by his paper’s editorial board. However, several board members openly disputed this, asserting they had prepared an endorsement for Harris that was ultimately blocked by Soon-Shiong. The fallout was swift, with multiple staffers issuing their resignations and readers declaring that they would cancel their subscriptions, prompting the union that represents many Times employees to issue a statement urging them not to do so.
The L.A. Times had endorsed a presidential candidate each cycle since 2004, while the Post’s presidential endorsements date back to 1988. USA Today, which endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, has been making presidential endorsements since 1982.
The move by the papers to opt out of backing a candidate in the coming presidential election follows a trend that has been building among newspapers in recent years, as organizations have become wary of alienating subscribers and deepening political divides.
Here’s a closer look at the evolution of such endorsements and the debate over whether newspapers should continue to make them.
Newspaper endorsements are wavering
Historically, newspaper endorsements — from presidential races to local elections — served as a guide, offering readers insight into candidates’ qualifications through the publication’s editorial lens.
In today’s polarized climate, however, endorsements have turned into a double-edged sword. Critics contend that they can amplify perceptions of bias and partisanship, potentially alienating segments of a paper’s readership.
As a result, many publications have opted out of endorsements entirely.
In 2022, for example, over 200 outlets owned by investment firm Alden Global Capital, including the Chicago Tribune and Denver Post, announced they would cease endorsing major political candidates, citing public discourse and the prevalence of “culture wars.”
Similarly, the New York Times stated earlier this year that it would stop endorsing candidates in state races, although it would continue backing U.S. presidential candidates. The Minnesota Star Tribune followed suit in August, choosing not to endorse candidates or causes in 2024, pledging instead to offer robust analysis to help readers make informed decisions.
Post and L.A. Times staffers resign in protest
The decisions by the Post and L.A. Times not to endorse a presidential candidate led to multiple resignations. The timing of that choice — less than two weeks before the election — was particularly concerning for some editors.
Former Post executive editor Marty Baron described the move as “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”
L.A. Times editorials editor Mariel Garza wrote in her resignation letter, “People will justifiably wonder if each endorsement was a decision made by a group of journalists after extensive research and discussion, or through decree by the owner,” according to the Wrap.
According to the Washington Post, L.A. Times journalists Robert Greene and Karin Klein also stepped down in protest, with Greene sharing a statement with the Columbia Journalism Review explaining that the paper’s decision “hurt particularly because one of the candidates, Donald Trump, has demonstrated such hostility to principles that are central to journalism — respect for the truth and reverence for democracy.”
In a statement shared on Facebook, Klein stressed that Soon-Shiong “blocked our voice” when he decided to scrap the editorial team’s endorsement of Harris.
L.A. Times owner's daughter speaks out
On Saturday, Patrick Soon-Shiong's daughter, Nika Soon-Shiong, told the New York Times that her father’s decision not to endorse Harris was driven by Harris’s support for Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
“Our family made the joint decision not to endorse a presidential candidate. This was the first and only time I have been involved in the process,” she said. “As a citizen of a country openly financing genocide, and as a family that experienced South African apartheid, the endorsement was an opportunity to repudiate justifications for the widespread targeting of journalists and ongoing war on children.”
Patrick Soon-Shiong, who purchased the Times in 2018 for $500 million, later refuted her comments, telling CNN that his daughter "speaks in her own personal capacity."
“She does not have any role at the L.A. Times, nor does she participate in any decision or discussion with the editorial board, as has been made clear many times,” he said.
Cancellations are mounting
The guild that represents many L.A. Times employees acknowledged that readers have threatened to cancel their subscriptions, while pleading with them not to abandon the publication that pays their salaries.
“Before you hit the ‘cancel’ button: That subscription underwrites the salaries of hundreds of journalists in our newsroom,” the statement said. “Our member-journalists work every day to keep readers informed during these tumultuous times. A healthy democracy is an informed democracy.”
Meanwhile, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican, and author Stephen King announced they’ve canceled their subscriptions to the Post. Over 200,00 other readers have reportedly followed suit.
Former editors blame billionaire owners
Some journalists argue that these non-endorsements prioritize the interests of the papers’ billionaire owners — Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong — over their readers, suggesting they are motivated by a desire to avoid backlash from Donald Trump if he wins the presidency.
Kagan highlighted this perceived conflict of interest in an interview with CNN.
“This is obviously an effort by Jeff Bezos to curry favor with Donald Trump,” he said. “Trump has threatened to go after Bezos’s business. Bezos runs one of the largest companies in America. They have tremendously intricate relations with the federal government. They depend on the federal government.”
As of Sunday, Oct. 27, Bezos has yet to respond to the outcry.
Which papers have endorsed Harris or Trump?
While some papers have stepped back from endorsing candidates, others remain committed to the practice.
As of Sunday, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, the Las Vegas Sun and the New Yorker have endorsed Harris.
Meanwhile, Trump has received backing from the New York Post, the Washington Times and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Washington Post editorial board members step down over decision not to endorse VP Harris
Brian Flood
FOX NEWS
Mon, October 28, 2024
Two Washington Post editorial board members stepped down on Monday over the paper’s decision not to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Post announced on Friday it would not endorse a presidential candidate this year, or in future years, citing a return to the "Democracy Dies in Darkness" paper’s roots. The decision has caused significant turmoil inside the organization, as liberal staffers are outraged and consider the non-endorsement a cowardly abdication of responsibility.
Billionaire owner Jeff Bezos reportedly stepped in and quashed the endorsement of Kamala Harris – the paper has not endorsed a Republican in the past 50 years.
As a result, Washington Post editorial board member David Hoffman has stepped down from the editorial board but plans to remain with the paper, according to a letter he sent editorial page editor David Shipley, that was obtained by NPR. Molly Roberts, another editorial board member, also resigned but will stay at the Post, according to the New York Times.
Washington Post Union, Staffers Revolt Over Decision Not To Endorse A Presidential Candidate, Blame Bezos
Mon, October 28, 2024
Two Washington Post editorial board members stepped down on Monday over the paper’s decision not to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Post announced on Friday it would not endorse a presidential candidate this year, or in future years, citing a return to the "Democracy Dies in Darkness" paper’s roots. The decision has caused significant turmoil inside the organization, as liberal staffers are outraged and consider the non-endorsement a cowardly abdication of responsibility.
Billionaire owner Jeff Bezos reportedly stepped in and quashed the endorsement of Kamala Harris – the paper has not endorsed a Republican in the past 50 years.
As a result, Washington Post editorial board member David Hoffman has stepped down from the editorial board but plans to remain with the paper, according to a letter he sent editorial page editor David Shipley, that was obtained by NPR. Molly Roberts, another editorial board member, also resigned but will stay at the Post, according to the New York Times.
Washington Post Union, Staffers Revolt Over Decision Not To Endorse A Presidential Candidate, Blame Bezos
The Washington Post announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate this year, or in future years, citing a return to the "Democracy Dies in Darkness" paper’s roots.
Hoffman wrote a letter to Post opinion chief David Shipley that he thought the board would continue to voice its values by not openly opposing former President Trump.
"For decades, The Washington Post’s editorials have been a beacon of light, signaling hope to dissidents, political prisoners and the voiceless. When victims of repression were harassed, exiled, imprisoned, and murdered, we made sure the whole world knew the truth. This was a driving force in my 12 years on the Editorial Board, cumulating in our 2023 series, ‘Annals of Autocracy,’ which owed much to your leadership of Opinions," Hoffman wrote.
"Until Friday, I assumed we would apply the same values and principles to an editorial endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump. I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment," he continued. "I stand against silence in the face of dictatorship. Here, there, everywhere. I am stepping down from the editorial board."
Before Non-endorsement Decision, Washington Post Called Trump 'Dreadful' And 'Worst President Of Modern Times'
Hoffman added: "While leaving the board, I refuse to give up on The Post, where I have spent 42 years. I believe the reporters, editors and columnists at The Post are determined to fulfill its mission as a pillar of American democracy. I am committed to several important projects now underway, including the expanded effort to support press freedom around the world."
Post columnist Michele Norris and Post editor at large Robert Kagan have already resigned in protest of the paper's decision.
A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment.
Owner Jeff Bezos defends Washington Post's decision not to endorse as the right, 'principled' one
DAVID BAUDER
Updated Mon, October 28, 2024
FILE - People walk by the One Franklin Square Building, home of The Washington Post newspaper, in downtown Washington, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
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NEW YORK (AP) — Billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on Monday defended the newspaper's decision not to endorse a presidential candidate as “right” and “principled” and pushed back against any notion that he ordered it up to protect his business interests.
That decision, announced Friday, has reportedly led to tens of thousands of people canceling their subscriptions and protests from journalists with a deep history at the newspaper. The Post's editorial staff was prepared to endorse Democrat Kamala Harris before publisher Will Lewis wrote instead that it would be better for readers to make up their own minds.
Bezos, in “a note from our owner” published Monday evening, said that editorial endorsements create a perception of bias at a time many Americans don't believe the media, and do nothing to tip the scales of an election.
“Ending them is a principled decision, and it's the right one,” Bezos said.
Bezos wrote that he wished the decision to end presidential endorsements had been done earlier, “in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it. That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.”
The decision has caused ripples for days
Bezos' decision caused an unprecedented spasm of anger both within journalism and outside it.
NPR reported on Monday that more than 200,000 people have canceled their subscriptions to the newspaper, citing “two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters.” A Post spokeswoman, Olivia Petersen, would not comment on the NPR report.
A loss of subscriptions of that magnitude would be a blow to a storied news outlet that is already facing financial headwinds. The Post had more than 2.5 million subscribers last year, the bulk of them digital, making it third behind The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal in circulation.
In the decision's wake, two of the newspaper's columnists quit, and three of the nine members of the editorial board resigned their posts. The Post’s retired former editor, Martin Baron, who was editor when Bezos bought the paper, had denounced the decision on social media as “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”
The Post’s decision came only days after the Los Angeles Times also said it would not endorse a presidential candidate, which the newspaper has acknowledged has cost them thousands of subscribers.
Bezos insists fear of business retaliation wasn't a factor
Some critics suggested Bezos, also owner of Amazon, ordered the non-endorsement to protect his business interests, acting out of fear of retaliation if Donald Trump were elected. The Post endorsed Trump’s Democratic rivals in 2016 and 2020, and Trump has often denounced critical coverage by the paper.
In his column, Bezos said people can see his wealth and business interests as one of two things — a bulwark against intimidation or a web of conflicting interests. He insisted that his views are principled and that his track record as Post owner since 2013 backs that up.
“I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at the Post in favor of my own interests,” he wrote. “It hasn't happened.”
He acknowledged that the chief executive of one of his companies, the space-exploration outfit Blue Origin, met with Trump last week on the same day the non-endorsement was announced.
“I sighed when I found out, because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision,” Bezos wrote. “But the fact is, I didn't know about the meeting beforehand.”
He said that while he doesn't and won't push his own personal interests, he wouldn't allow the Post to “stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance.”
“Many of the finest journalists you'll find anywhere work at The Washington Post, and they work painstakingly every day to get to the truth,” he said. “They deserve to be believed.”
___
David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
Post endorsement controversy sparks staff resignations, protests
Dominick Mastrangelo
Mon, October 28, 2024
(The Hill) — A decision by The Washington Post to not endorse a candidate for president in next week’s election is sparking vocal protests and resignations from some staffers.
Post publisher and CEO William Lewis announced Friday that the Post would not be making an endorsement, a move that has angered staffers and stoked fears about the newspaper’s editorial independence.
The Post itself reported hours later that Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon who owns the newspaper, personally made the decision not to run an endorsement after the Post’s editorial board had already drafted its endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.
The first protest was from Post editor Robert Kagan, who told the news outlet Semafor he would step down from the publication.
Ballot boxes burned in Oregon, Washington
On Monday, Molly Roberts, a member of the Post’s editorial board, said she was also stepping down because “the imperative to endorse Kamala Harris over Donald Trump is about as morally clear as it gets.”
“Worse, our silence is exactly what Donald Trump wants,” Roberts wrote in a statement. “For the media, for us, to keep quiet.”
A third staffer, David Hoffman, a Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist, wrote in a note to his editors obtained by The New York Times that he was stepping down from the Post’s editorial board but would remain at the newspaper.
“While leaving the board, I refuse to give up on The Post, where I have spent 42 years,” he wrote.
In his announcement on Friday, Lewis acknowledged the decision to not endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in more than 30 years was likely to receive blowback.
“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility,” the newspaper’s publisher wrote. “That is inevitable. We don’t see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for.”
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Jeff Bezos Denies Business Interests Influenced Decision to Kill Kamala Harris Endorsement
Ross A. Lincoln
Mon, October 28, 2024
Jeff Bezos is insisting that concerns about his businesses played no role in his decision to kill the Washington Post editorial board’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris.
In an editorial published Monday afternoon in the Washington Post, Bezos also justified the decision — which has so far cost the paper hundreds of thousands of subscribers as well as some of its most high profile writers — by citing widespread distrust of media among Americans.
Bezos also did not acknowledge or address any of the reporting about his role in the scandal, which has mired WaPo in an existential crisis.
First citing a recent Gallup poll showing that Americans now trust media less than Congress, Bezos asserted, “Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working.”
The Amazon boss complained that many people believe the media is biased, stating in part, “We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate,” before moving on to deny that newspaper endorsements even matter. “Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” he said, arguing instead that they “create a perception of bias.”
Bezos didn’t directly address reporting by the New York Times this weekend that he decided against any endorsement at all more than a month ago, but for reasons unexplained, didn’t inform the editorial board until after they had submitted one, guaranteeing negative headlines for Harris.
He did, however, deny there was anything suspicious about that timing. “I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it. That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy,” Bezos wrote.
“Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision,” he also noted. “It was made entirely internally.” Bezos further said that he had no advance knowledge that Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp was going to meet with Donald Trump the same day he killed the Harris endorsement. “I sighed when I found out, because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision. But the fact is, I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand.”
Criticism of Bezos’ decision not to endorse is particularly sharp as it came on the heels of the similarly controversial call by Los Angeles Times owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong. Both non-endorsements have prompted multiple resignations and a surge of subscriber cancellations.
The Columbia Journalism Review reported that discussions about the Post’s usual presidential endorsement “stalled” a few weeks ago. As with the Times, staffers at the Post said that they had already written an endorsement for Harris, and were “stunned” to learn that the paper’s owner chose not to run it.
Several editorial board members have stepped down in the meantime, including David Hoffman, who just won a Pulitzer Prize last week. In his letter, he wrote, “I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment.”
“Donald Trump is not yet a dictator. But the quieter we are, the closer he comes — because dictators don’t have to order the press to publish cooperatively if it wishes to go on publishing at all. The press knows, and it censors itself,” Molly Roberts, who also stepped down from the board, wrote.
