Source: The Washington Post / Getty
The Washington Post has become the latest so-called progressive publication to feel the wrath of the fall-out following its decision not to endorse a presidential candidate in this uncomfortably tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and the orangey-white nationalist who has normalized slinging lies and bigotry from the political stage.
According to anonymous courses cited in an NPR report, more than 200,000 people canceled their subscriptions to the Post after the publication announced it is “returning to its roots” by staying neutral in the race to the White House and declining to endorse Harris or Donald Trump.
if you’re in line to cancel your washington post subscription, stay in line pic.twitter.com/y2DEOSrVl0
— Florida Chris (@chrislongview) October 28, 2024
It’s not terribly surprising that the Post is basically hemorrhaging subscribers, considering folks on social media put out the call to send a message to the Post and its owner, Jeff Bezos, that its readers won’t stick around if it won’t make an endorsement in an election this crucial.
BREAKING: Jeff Bezos is forcing the Washington Post NOT to endorse Kamala Harris for President — just in case trump wins the election.
?EVERYBODY CANCEL YOUR WASHINGTON POST SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW. ?
FUCK YOU, JEFF BEZOS. pic.twitter.com/joQOvl5H8z
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) October 25, 2024
From Variety:
On Friday, Washington Post CEO and publisher William Lewis wrote in an article on the paper’s website, “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.” The Post has endorsed a candidate in every presidential election since 1976, with the exception of 1988. Lewis, who joined the post in November 2023, was formerly CEO of Dow Jones & Co. and publisher of the Wall Street Journal.
As first reported by NPR, Bezos — who bought the Washington Post in 2013 — had recently decided that the newspaper would not endorse either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the 2024 election. The paper’s editorial board had already drafted an endorsement of Harris. Some observers (and, evidently, thousands of subscribers) interpreted the move as an attempt by Bezos to avoid getting targeted for attacks by Trump.
The fallout for the Post comes just a few days after the Los Angeles Times lost its editorial chief, who resigned over the publication’s relatively new owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, ordered the Times’ editorial board not to endorse Harris after endorsing a Democratic president in every election since 2008. Journalist Mariel Garza said in her resignation letter that it mattered that the largest newspaper in California declined to endorse “in a race this important,” and that “it matters that we won’t even be straight with people about it.”
“It makes us look craven and hypocritical, maybe even a bit sexist and racist,” Garza wrote. “How could we spend eight years railing against Trump and the danger his leadership poses to the country, and then fail to endorse the perfectly decent Democrat challenger — who we previously endorsed for the U.S. Senate?”
Yeah — this is the wrong time for major news outlets to choose silence in the name of pseudo-neutrality and objectivity. The choice between a non-fascist woman who will have worked in all three branches of government if elected and the guy from The Apprentice who spouts non-stop hate speech and propaganda is clear. The Post and the Times needed to do the right thing.
