Washington Post won’t endorse in White House race for first time since 1980s, Jeff Bezos decides
Even though the presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is neck and neck, The Washington Post has decided not to make a presidential endorsement for the first time in 36 years, the publisher and CEO announced Friday.
“We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” Will Lewis wrote in an opinion piece published on the paper’s website. He referenced the paper’s policy in the decades prior to 1976, when, following the Watergate scandal that the Post broke, it endorsed Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter. The last time the Post did not endorse a presidential candidate in the general election was 1988, according to a search of its archives.
Colleagues learned the news from the editorial page editor, David Shipley, at a tense meeting shortly before Lewis’ announcement. The meeting was characterized by someone with direct knowledge of discussions on condition of anonymity to speak about internal matters.
Shipley said that he told other editorial board leaders Thursday that management had decided there would be no endorsement, though he has known for weeks. He added that he “owns” this decision. The reason he cited was to create “independent space” where the newspaper does not tell people for whom to vote.
Colleagues were said to be “shocked” and uniformly negative. Post corporate spokespeople have not responded to multiple messages left by NPR on the subject. [Continue reading…]
An endorsement of Harris had been drafted by Post editorial page staffers but had yet to be published, according to two sources briefed on the sequence of events who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The decision not to publish was made by The Post’s owner — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — according to the same sources.
“This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty. Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners),” former Post executive editor Martin Baron, who led the paper while Trump was president, said in a text message to The Post. “History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.” [Continue reading…]