The Washington Post’s decision not to endorse US Presidential candidate, Kamala Harris has led to a backlash.
The publisher of the newspaper William Lewis said on Friday, October 25 that they would not endorse a presidential candidate in this year’s elections slated for November 5. This has sparked outrage from some of its former and current employees and subscribers as well.
Lewis wrote in a note published in the newspaper, “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.”
This decision was decried by many media observers. Some reader of the newspaper said that they are cancelling their subscriptions. Marty Baron, the former editor of The Washington Post said that this was cowardice, with democracy as its casualty. Former President Donald Trump will seen this as an invitation to further intimidate owner Jeff Bezos, she also said.
The decision was taken by the Post following the intervention by its owner Jeff Bezos.
The Washington Post Guild which represents around 1, journalist and other workers at the media expressed concern that corporate management had interfered with the paper’s editorial decision making process. “According to our reporters and Guild members, an endorsement for Harris was already drafted, and the decision to not to publish was made by The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos,” the labour group wrote on X.
It further said that they are already sees cancellations from once loyal readers. The decision undercuts the work of our members at a time when we should be building our readers’ trust and not losing it, the statement also read.
There was a similar backlash at the Los Angeles Times as well. The owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong took a decision to block the newspaper’s endorsement of vice president Kamala Harris. This sparked the resignation of the editorial’s editor Mariel Garza. This was followed by the resignations of two other members of the editorial board.
Some of the readers of the Post and Los Angeles Times said that they plan on cancelling their subscriptions. Some even posted images of their subscription cancellation notices.
Hollywood director Paul Feig took to X and wrote, ‘great, another billionaire protecting his own self-interest instead of the country’s. Nice knowing you, @washingtonpost.’
I am a strong believer in paying for serious, high-quality journalism, and that is exactly why I am canceling my @washingtonpost subscription over this timid, cowardly decision that could not come at a worse possible — or more revealing — time,” Iowa state senator Zach Walls who is also a democrat wrote.
On Thursday, Los Angeles Times veteran journalist Robert Greene and Karin Klein resigned a day after Garza left in protest.
Greene, a Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial writing, said, ‘I recognise that it is the owner’s decision to make. But it hurt in particular because one of the candidates Donald Trump has demonstrated such hostility to principles that are central to journalism — respect for the truth and reverence for democracy.’
Garza said that the board had intended to endorse Harris and that she had drafted the outline of a proposed editorial . However it was blocked by Soon-Shiong.
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