‘Right, principled’: Owner Jeff Bezos defends Washington Post’s call to not endorse US presidential candidate

The decision has reportedly led to tens of thousands of people canceling their subscriptions and protests from journalists with a deep history at the newspaper. The editorial board of The Post had already drafted an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris at the time, before Lewis wrote instead that it would be better for readers to make up their own minds.

Bezos, in “a note from our owner” published Monday evening, said editorial endorsements create a perception of bias at a time many Americans don’t believe the media, and do nothing to tip the scales of an election.

“Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one,” Bezos said.

Bezos added that he wished the decision to end presidential endorsements had been done earlier, “in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it. That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.”

This is the first time since 1988 that The Post will not endorse any candidate, and Bezos’ decision caused an unprecedented spasm of anger both within journalism and outside it.

National Public Radio (NPR) reported on Monday that more than 200,000 people have canceled their subscriptions to the newspaper, citing “two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters.”

A fall in subscriptions of that magnitude would be a blow to a news outlet that is already facing financial headwinds. The Post had more than 2.5 million subscribers last year, the bulk of them digital, making it third behind The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal in circulation, according to an Associated Press report.

In the wake of the decision, two of the newspaper’s columnists quit, and three of the nine members of the editorial board resigned from their posts. The Post’s retired former editor, Martin Baron, who was editor when Bezos bought the paper, had denounced the decision on social media as “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”

Days earlier, The Los Angeles Times too, had decided to not endorse a candidate, with the newspaper also acknowledging that the move has cost them thousands of subscribers.

Meanwhile, Bezos has insisted that the fear of business retaliation was not a factor in the decision.

Some critics suggested Bezos, also owner of Amazon, ordered the non-endorsement to protect his business interests, acting out of fear of retaliation if Donald Trump were elected. The Post endorsed Trump’s Democratic rivals in 2016 and 2020, and Trump has often denounced critical coverage by the paper, AP reported.

In his column, Bezos said people “can see his wealth and business interests as one of two things — a bulwark against intimidation or a web of conflicting interests.” He asserted that his views are principled and that his track record as The Post owner since 2013 backs that up.

“I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at The Post in favor of my own interests,” he wrote, and added: “It hasn’t happened.”

He also acknowledged that the chief executive of one of his companies, the space-exploration outfit Blue Origin, met with Trump last week on the same day the non-endorsement was announced.

“I sighed when I found out, because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision,” Bezos wrote. “But the fact is, I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand.”

He said that while he doesn’t and won’t push his own personal interests, he wouldn’t allow The Post to “stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance.”

“Many of the finest journalists you’ll find anywhere work at The Washington Post, and they work painstakingly every day to get to the truth,” he said. “They deserve to be believed.”

With inputs from AP