UPDATE: It’s now being reported the decision to spike an endorsement of VP Kamala Harris by the Washington Post was made by the owner of the newspaper, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The decision to not endorse a presidential candidate in this election cycle breaks with nearly 50 years of precedent at the newspaper.
Washington Post Editor at Large, Robert Kagan has resigned. The decision to not officially endorse a presidential candidate came from Jeff Bezos. pic.twitter.com/NThXSNt5F6
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) October 25, 2024
“The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election,” wrote Will Lewis, The Post’s chief executive. “Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.” Ironically, the Post adopted the motto “Democracy dies in darkness” following the election of Donald Trump. Two weeks before the election, the newspaper decides to go “dark?” Since 1976, when the newspaper endorsed Jimmy Carter (who ultimately became president), the Post has endorsed presidential candidates. Prior to that, it did not give a thumbs-up to a presidential candidate except for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. Earlier this week, the head of the Los Angeles Times’ editorial board and two of its writers resigned after the newspaper’s Trump-supporting billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, blocked a planned presidential endorsement. Fear of Trump? Abdication of responsibility? It’s hard to see this as anything but an attempt to placate Trump in case he wins. What do you think, folks?
The Washington Post opinion editor approved a Harris endorsement. A week later, the paper’s publisher killed it.https://t.co/8q4ek35cgD
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) October 25, 2024
According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the Post’s opinion editor had approved a Harris endorsement, but a week later, it seems the endorsement was killed by Bezos much to the surprise of the editorial board.
Over a period of several weeks, a Post staffer told me, two Post board members, Charles Lane and Stephen W. Stromberg, had worked on drafts of a Harris endorsement.
Around a week ago, editorial page editor David Shipley told the editorial board that the endorsement was on track, adding that “this is obviously something our owner has an interest in.”
“We thought we were dickering over language—not over whether there would be an endorsement,” the Post staffer said. So the Post, both news and opinion departments, were stunned Friday after Shipley told the editorial board at a meeting that it would not take a position after all.
Here’s the Washington Post’s front page on January 7, 2021. Four years later, the paper, famous for its tagline “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” doesn’t want to take a stand on who is fit to be president. pic.twitter.com/WilxA8pfzG
— John Reeves (@reevesjw) October 25, 2024
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