Publisher and CEO Will Lewis said the Washington Post last abstained from a general election in 1988, but is “returning to its roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.” Ta. hide caption
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Despite the close presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, The Washington Post has decided not to endorse the president for the first time in 36 years, said its publisher and chief executive. The CEO made the announcement on Friday.
“We are going back to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” Will Lewis said in an opinion piece posted on the newspaper’s website. He cited the Post’s policy in the decades before 1976, when it supported Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter in the wake of the Post’s coverage of the Watergate scandal. The last time the Post did not endorse a presidential candidate in a general election was in 1988, according to an archive search.
Colleagues learned the news from editorial page editor David Shipley during a tense meeting shortly before Lewis’ announcement. The meeting was characterized by people with direct knowledge of the discussions speaking on internal matters on condition of anonymity.
Shipley said management told the other editorial board members on Thursday that they would not receive support, something they had known for weeks. He added that he “owns” the decision. He said the reason for this was to create an “independent space” where newspapers would not tell people who to vote for.
Colleagues were said to be “shocked” and uniformly negative. A Post company spokesperson has not responded to multiple messages left by NPR regarding this story.
Former Washington Post editor-in-chief Martin Barron, who led newsroom praise during the Trump era, slammed the decision.
“This is a despicable act and a dark moment in which democracy is the victim,” Baron said in a statement to NPR. “Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further blackmail Post owner Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). It will be a disturbing chapter.”
A similar decision by Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shione led to the resignation of the paper’s editorial editor and two editorial board members this week. Soon-Shiong said he asked the editorial board to draft a “factual analysis” of Trump and Harris’ policies and plans. In her resignation letter, editorial editor Mariel Garza said the decision made the paper look “insane and hypocritical” given its past reporting and editorials about Trump.
The Post’s investigative team has regularly reported on allegations of wrongdoing and misconduct by former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his associates. Editorial boards, which operate separately from newsrooms, have repeatedly declared Trump’s actions while in office and comments as a candidate unbecoming of a president.
In particular, it focuses on what he did in January 2021 to urge his supporters to deny formal certification of President Biden’s election.
The Post’s possible withholding of support was first reported by Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter. Even before Friday’s announcement, the potential loss of the editorial had sparked consternation among Post journalists. Because we are America’s leading publication and we believe that the most pressing issues of the day need to be considered.
Post office owner Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and one of the world’s richest people, has large contracts with the federal government for other business operations; It would also have a multibillion-dollar impact on delivery businesses, cloud computing services, and his space company, Blue Origin. .
In January, he hired Mr. Lewis, a big conservative believer, as publisher and CEO. Mr. Lewis also held the same position at Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal. He was editor of the London-based Telegraph newspaper, which had close ties to the Conservative Party. He served as an adviser to Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson when he was British Prime Minister.
Colleagues told NPR that Mr. Bezos chose Mr. Lewis in part because of his ability to get along with powerful conservative figures, including Mr. Murdoch.