By Hadas Gold, CNN
US media frequently announce formal endorsements of political candidates: The Washington Post's decision not to endorse a US presidential candidate, less than 2 weeks before the US election, has been divisive. Photo: Ajay Suresh/ Creative Common BY 2.0
One day after The Washington Post announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate in this year's election or in the future, its billionaire owner remains silent as the newspaper's staff are in turmoil.
Jeff Bezos has so far declined to comment on the situation, even as his own paper's journalists reported that it was Bezos who ultimately spiked the planned endorsement. A source with knowledge told CNN on Friday that an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris had been drafted, before it was squashed.
In the last 24 hours, at least one editor has resigned, and high-profile Post staffers have publicly expressed their dismay as many in the paper's Opinion section are furious over how the situation was handled.
For many current and former staffers of the venerable newspaper, the timing of the announcement was highly suspect and has led them to believe Bezos' business interests influenced the decision.
Former Post executive editor Marty Baron, who led the paper under Bezos during the first Trump administration called the decision an act of "cowardice."
"To declare a moment of high principle, only 11 days before the election - that is just highly suspect, that is just not to be believed, that this was a matter of principle at this point," Baron told CNN's Michael Smerconish on Saturday morning.
Trump has threatened Bezos "continually," Baron noted. But when Baron was in charge of the newspaper, Bezos "resisted that pressure" and he was "proud" and "grateful" for that leadership.
"Bezos has other commercial interests, a big stake and Amazon, he has a space company called Blue Origin," Baron said. "Trump has threatened to pursue his political enemies and he rewards his friends, and he punishes his perceived political [enemies], and think there's no other explanation for what's happening right now."
Baron said Post publisher Will Lewis' defence of the non-endorsement was "laughable," noting that the Post has endorsed in other races.
"If their philosophy is readers can make up their own minds on the big issues that they face in this democracy, then don't run any editorials," Baron said. "But the fact is they only decided not to run an editorial in this one instance 11 days before the election."
Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, is the owner of the Washington Post, founder of Blue Origin and executive chairman of Amazon. Photo: AFP/ NurPhoto - Alessandro Bremec
In a statement to CNN on Saturday, Lewis pushed back on reports about Bezos' role in the endorsement decision.
"Reporting around the role of The Washington Post owner and the decision not to publish a presidential endorsement has been inaccurate," Lewis said. "He was not sent, did not read and did not opine on any draft.
"As Publisher, I do not believe in presidential endorsements. We are an independent newspaper and should support our readers' ability to make up their own minds."
Several current Post journalists told CNN they have no problem with the editorial board not endorsing in any situation, with some actively agreeing with the decision. But they all found the timing of the announcement extremely troubling.
"Deciding that now, right before an election, puts us in a lose-lose position: cowards for caving, or whining over not endorsing Harris, which the Trump campaign is already trying to use to undermine us," one Post journalist told CNN. Another told CNN that "people are angry and feel like senior managers are undermining the journalism."
Others expressed deep concern that a wave of readers reacting to the news have cancelled their subscriptions, something that will directly impact the newsroom's ability to function.
Robert Kagan, a Post columnist and opinion editor-at-large who had been with the paper for 25 years, publicly resigned on Friday as a direct result of the non-endorsement.
"This is obviously an effort by Jeff Bezos to curry favour with Donald Trump in the anticipation of his possible victory," Kagan told CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront on Friday.
"Trump has threatened to go after Bezos' business. Bezos runs one of the largest companies in America. They have tremendously intricate relations with federal government. They depend on the federal government."
A Blue Origin New Shepard 4 rocket and crew capsule taking off from the Blue Origin base near Van Horn, Texas, on 19 May. Photo: AFP/ Blue Origin handout
On Friday, Trump met with executives from Blue Origin, the space exploration company owned by Bezos, hours after the Post announced its decision Friday. The company has a $3.4 billion contract with the federal government to build a new spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the moon's surface.
Trump advisers and supporters have been crowing since both the Post and the Los Angeles Times' billionaire owners stepped in to prevent their papers from endorsing Harris.
A post on X by a Post reporter noting that Trump met with Blue Origin executives the same day the Post declined to endorse Harris was reposted by Trump spokesman Steven Cheung along with multiple "love" emojis.
Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller also pounced on the non-endorsement, writing: "You know the Kamala campaign is sinking when even the Washington Post refuses to endorse."
Earlier in the week, the Trump campaign used the Los Angeles Times' non-endorsement in a fundraising email, calling it a "humiliating blow" for Harris.
Other staffers said the decision not to endorse will ultimately harm American democracy, even though Lewis claimed in his note to readers that the move should not be seen as a "tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another."
In a joint statement, legendary Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame called the decision "surprising and disappointing," noting the timing of the announcement "ignores the Washington Post's own overwhelming reportorial evidence on the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy."
A group of 17 Post opinion columnists also published a statement Friday evening, criticizing their own newspaper's decision not to endorse a candidate in the presidential election as a "terrible mistake."
"The Washington Post's decision not to make an endorsement in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake," they wrote. "It represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love, and for which we have worked a combined 218 years."
- CNN
