The Washington Post Guild condemned Jeff Bezos’ decision Friday not endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in 36 years, news that already prompted at least one top editor to resign and a significant number of canceled subscriptions.
The union’s statement confirmed earlier reports that the decision to end endorsements – in this election, and going forward – came directly from the Amazon boss. The WaPo editorial board already had a Kamala Harris endorsement piece ready to go before it was ultimately nixed.
“We are deeply concerned that The Washington Post — an American news institution in the nation’s capital — would make the decision to no longer endorse presidential candidates, especially a mere 11 days ahead of an immensely consequential election,” the guild shared on X. “The role of an editorial board is to do just this: to share opinions on the news impacting our society and culture and endorse candidates to help guide readers.”
Editor at large Robert Kagan has already submitted his resignation from the paper, according to Semafor media writer Max Tani.
“The message from our chief executive, Will Lewis — not from the editorial board itself — makes us concerned that management interfered with the work of our members in editorial. According to our own reporters and guild members, an endorsement for Harris was already drafted, and the decision to not to publish was made by The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos.”
“We are already seeing cancellations from once loyal readers,” the guild concluded. “This decision undercuts the work of our members at a time when we should be building our readers’ trust, not losing it.”
The controversial move echoes a similar situation unfolding at The Los Angeles Times with its own billionaire leader, Patrick Soon-Shiong.
More to come…
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