The Washington Post newspaper is experiencing an internal ‘earthquake’ due to the decision of its owner, billionaire Jeff Bezos, not to support the presidential candidacy of Democrat Kamala Harris, which has led to two resignations and 200,000 canceled subscriptions.
In the United States there is a tradition of the media giving their explicit support to a presidential candidate, but the Post’s editor-in-chief, William Lewis, announced on Friday that the newspaper decided to remain equidistant and not support either Harris or her rival Republican, former President Donald Trump.
As revealed by two journalists in an article published in the same newspaper, the Post editorial board had already written its article supporting the Democratic candidate, but it was Jeff Bezos who ordered its publication to be stopped.
It is the first time in decades that the newspaper in the American capital does not support the Democratic candidate in the presidential elections.
The newspaper, which has had a very hard editorial line with Trump, supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, both against the Republican magnate.
William Lewis, the newspaper’s editor, denied that Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of the Post since 2013, had anything to do with the newspaper’s new stance.
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As he justified, the newspaper’s objective is to give a greater image of independence and return to its origins, when the Post did not endorse candidates.
The first presidential candidate supported by the Post was Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976, after the Watergate scandal that the newspaper had uncovered. Since then, the newspaper has regularly supported candidates, with the exception of the 1988 campaign.
The newspaper has investigated irregularities and controversies by Trump and those around him for years, and has been highly critical of the Republican’s rhetoric and his refusal to accept the 2020 electoral defeat.
During Trump’s term, Amazon lost a multimillion-dollar contract with the Pentagon and sued Trump for using “undue pressure” to harm Bezos. Critics of the newspaper’s decision believe that the billionaire wants to prevent confrontations with a possible second term for the Republican.
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Resignations and wave of cancellations
The first to resign over the decision was editor Robert Kagan, who described the change in position as a “premature capitulation” to Trump, and he was followed this Sunday by veteran columnist Michele Norris, who considered it a “terrible mistake” and a “ “insult to the standards of the newspaper.”
Another 18 columnists signed an article in which they expressed their disagreement because the announcement “represents an abandonment of the newspaper’s convictions.”
‘Act of cowardice whose victim will be democracy’
The prestigious journalist Marty Baron, who directed the Post when Trump was in the White House, also reacted indignantly, stating that it is “an act of cowardice whose victim will be democracy.”
“Donald Trump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate the owner, Jeff Bezos, and others. The lack of character of an institution famous for its bravery is worrying,” he declared.
Disappointment has also reached readers: more than 200,000 people have canceled their digital subscriptions, representing 8% of the total, NPR radio reported.
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This wave of cancellations worries the newspaper’s workers, including those who oppose Bezos’ decision.
“We Post reporters do not participate in that decision, but when you cancel your subscription you harm us, not the owner,” warned journalist Caroline Kitchener after revealing that her mother left the newspaper.
David Maraniss, a veteran editor of the newspaper, said that last Friday was the “darkest day” of his career, but he broke a spear in favor of the Post journalists: “They have done much more than Facebook or X to discover and shine a light on threats to democracy, and will continue to do so despite the cowardice of the owner and the publisher.”
A similar controversy has hit the Los Angeles Times, where the head of the Editorial Board, Mariel Garza, resigned from her position in protest because the newspaper’s owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, blocked the newspaper’s support for Harris.
Bezos defends the Washington Post’s decision
In an opinion column, Jeff Bezos assured that the majority of Americans “believe that the media is biased” and stated that the decision not to support the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump “is the correct one.”
“Endorsement of a candidate does nothing to tip the balance in an election (…) but rather creates a perception of partiality,” said the businessman.
With information from EFE
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