Washington Post refuses to endorse Kamala Harris – sparking furious boycott from readers and staff
The Washington Post has announced it will not endorse a presidential candidate, sparking fury among its liberal readers who are pledging to cancel their subscriptions to the paper.
The announcement marks the first time in 36 years that the left-leaning paper has decided to not make a presidential endorsement.
The paper’s page editor David Shipley had already approved an endorsement of Harris and had reportedly told colleagues that it was being reviewed by the paper’s owner Jeff Bezos, according to NPR.
But on Friday CEO Will Lewis published an op-ed that the paper is returning to its ‘roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.’
It comes just days after The Los Angeles Times announced it would also not be endorsing anyone for the November presidential elections.
The Washington Post has announced it will not endorse a presidential candidate, sparking fury among its liberal readers who are pledging to cancel their subscriptions to the paper
The paper’s page editor David Shipley had already approved an endorsement of Harris
The paper’s staff learned of the decision from page editor Shipley in a ‘tense’ meeting on Friday, according to NPR.
Shipley told staff he owned the decision and it was meant to create ‘independent space’ where the paper does not tell people how to vote.
However, The Post itself has reported that it was Bezos who made the decision to not endorse a presidential candidate.
Columnist Robert Kagan, a conservative Trump critic, resigned from his position in the editorial board after the decision emerged.
The response from the Post’s staff has been ‘uniformly outraged,’ according to NPR’s David Folkenflik.
Many liberals have pledged to cancel their subscriptions to the paper on Friday
Former Post executive editor Martin Baron said: ‘This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty,” Baron said in a statement to NPR. “Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners).
‘History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.’
The Post’s senior political correspondent Ashley Parker simply said, ‘Welp, that’s certainly a new type of October Surprise.’
The post began endorsing presidential candidates in 1976 after it broke the Watergate scandal and publicly backed Democrat Jimmy Carter – ‘for understandable reasons at the time,’ the paper said.
The page editor had reportedly told colleagues that it was being reviewed by the paper’s owner Jeff Bezos. The Pos t itself has reported that it was Bezos who made the decision to not endorse a presidential candidate
Columnist Robert Kagan, a conservative Trump critic, resigned from his position in the editorial board after the decision emerged
However, it declined to make an endorsement in 1988 between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.
All of its endorsements since Carter have been Democrats.
In his op-ed, CEO Lewis added: In his op-ed, CEO Lewis said: ‘We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility.
‘We don’t see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects.’
The Post’s senior political correspondent Ashley Parker simply said, ‘Welp, that’s certainly a new type of October Surprise’
Former Post executive editor Martin Baron responded to the decision on X
Democrats such as Vermont senator Bernie Sanders have also expressed outrage at the Post’s decision.
‘This is what Oligarchy is about,’ Sanders said in X.
‘Jeff Bezos, the 2nd wealthiest person in the world and the owner of the Washington Post, overrides his editorial board and refuses to endorse Kamala. Clearly, he is afraid of antagonizing Trump and losing Amazon’s federal contracts. Pathetic.’
Earlier this week, LA Times billionaire owner Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong blocked a planned endorsement of Harris, leading to the resignation of the paper’s editorials editor.
Mariel Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review in an interview that she resigned because the Times was remaining silent on the contest in “dangerous times.”
‘I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not OK with us being silent,’ Garza said. ‘In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.’
In a post on the social media platform X that did not directly mention the resignation, owner Soon-Shiong said the board was asked to do a factual analysis of the policies of Harris and Republican former President Trump during their time at the White House.
Soon-Shiong, who bought the paper in 2018, said the board ‘chose to remain silent and I accepted their decision.’
