The “Washington Post” lost thousands of Democrat subscribers when owner Jeff Bezos decided to pull the editorial board’s endorsement of Kamala Harris for president and decided instead to not make an endorsement. Now he is calling for the newspaper to add more conservative columnists to make it more balanced in its coverage.
It’s not just the Post. On Wednesday, USA Today joined a growing list of national newspapers who are not endorsing Kamala Harris. Could it be a trend among print outlets who fear they’ve been too biased in favor of one political view?
“The New York Times” noted that part of Bezos’ shift with what he wants at the newspaper was signaled when he hired Will Lewis, who previously worked at Rupert Murdoch’s “Wall Street Journal,” to be its chief executive.
“The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election,” Lewis said in a statement. “Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”
The paper cited its past position from more than five decades ago of not endorsing presidential nominees.
“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,” the paper said. “That is inevitable. We don’t see it that way.”
Former Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli told NPR that the number of subscribers that the paper had lost was “a colossal number.” He said people were highly emotional about the paper’s decision to not endorse Harris.
“It is a way to send a message to ownership, but it shoots you in the foot if you care about the kind of in-depth, quality journalism like the Post produces,” he said. “There aren’t many organizations that can do what the Post does. The range and depth of reporting by the Post’s journalists is among the best in the world.”
The Post’s decision came only days after the “Los Angeles Times” also said it would not endorse a presidential candidate, which the newspaper has acknowledged has cost it thousands of subscribers, Fox News reports.
Political observers have speculated that the decisions come as internal Demoratic polling reveals Kamala Harris is on track to lose the Nov. 5 election.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice