Hundreds of Thousands of Washington Post Readers Unsubscribe Over Its Refusal to Endorse Kamala Harris

БMore than 200 readers have canceled their subscriptions to this influential publication. The reasonsand that its owner, a billionaire and founder Amazon Jeff Bezos has decided that his newspaper will no longer support any presidential candidates., Said with the BBC.

Photo: Jon Kempner | Dreamstime.com

The publication has traditionally supported Democratic candidates since the 1970s. According to sources in the WP editorial board, they were preparing a piece in support of Kamala Harris, which will now not be published. Bezos's decision has caused indignation not only within the editorial board, but also among subscribers who have been loyal to the newspaper for decades.

The publication's CEO, William Lewis, wrote in his column that the management's decision was dictated by a desire not to influence voters' choices. However, the Washington Post Guild, which represents employees, said it was deeply concerned about both the move and the CEO's statement.

"The message from Will Lewis, rather than from the editorial board itself, leaves us concerned that management is interfering with the editorial staff's work," the Guild said in a statement.

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Briton Will Lewis was recently appointed CEO by Bezos. His critics say he has been involved in major scandals in the past, particularly at Rupert Murdoch's media outlets.

Former WP executive editor Marty Baron called the refusal to endorse candidates a sign of cowardice and spinelessness on the part of the paper's current leadership.

On October 28, the newspaper's owner, Jeff Bezos, published an op-ed explaining his position. He said he made the decision because he was concerned about the trend of people losing trust in traditional media and turning to social media, leaving them vulnerable to misinformation.

"Most people think the media is biased. Those who don't see that don't understand reality, and those who fight reality lose," Bezos wrote.

The race for the White House between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is being called by many in the US a stress test for American democracy.

However, Bezos is convinced that no media position can influence the outcome of the election.

"Not one undecided voter in Pennsylvania will say: I support the opinion of such and such a newspaper. Not one. In fact, media endorsements create a perception of bias and lack of independence. Ending this is our principled decision, and it is the right one," the owner of the Washington Post wrote in his column.

Meanwhile, 20 of the publication's columnists issued a joint statement calling the newspaper's management's decision a rejection of long-standing fundamental principles.

David Hoffman, a recent Pulitzer Prize winner for a series of Washington Post articles about how authoritarian regimes use new technologies to suppress dissent, wrote an open letter declaring that the United States faces a real threat of autocracy in the form of Trump.

"I find it unjustifiable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this dangerous moment," Hoffman wrote, announcing that he was resigning from the publication's editorial board.

Opponents of Bezos's decision point out that the same day the paper decided not to publish the pro-Harris story, the paper's owner met with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. In his column, Bezos calls this a pure coincidence and insists that his decision was not related to business interests or a concession to Trump.

During Donald Trump's first term as president, his relationship with billionaire Bezos was rocky. The Republican sent a number of caustic and even rude tweets at the businessman.

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A week earlier, the Los Angeles Times made a similar decision not to endorse any candidate, something it had done for years. The paper had planned to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, but billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong blocked the move.

The decision prompted the publication's editor-in-chief, Mariel Garza, to resign.

"With my resignation, I want to make it clear that I do not agree with the idea that we will remain silent. In dangerous times, honest people have a duty to fight, and I am doing so," Garza said.

The Washington Post is one of the most influential and oldest American publications. It was this newspaper that contributed to the resignation of President Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal.

Now many former WP subscribers are playing on the newspaper's official motto "Democracy Dies in Darkness" on social media and writing that darkness has already arrived for the Washington Post.

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