Washington Post in turmoil after opting against 2024 presidential endorsement
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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Thousands of Washington Post readers have canceled their subscriptions. Staffers have gone public with their outrage.
Owner Jeff Bezos is under scrutiny. The Post is facing a crisis over its decision not to endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential race, a move the news outlet announced Friday. Several current and former employees said refusing to take a stand was an abandonment of the Post’s principles.
Many readers, including author Stephen King and former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, said they had canceled their Post subscriptions. “We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates," Publisher William Lewis announced in a column on Friday. Before 1976, the paper mainly abstained from endorsing a candidate.
People close to the Post, though, said the paper had drafted an editorial in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris. The decision not to endorse prompted complaints inside the newsroom—and among the Post’s reader base. Critics suggested the news outlet and its owner, Bezos, were concerned about retribution from Donald Trump should he win next week’s presidential election.
The Los Angeles Times also recently decided against endorsing a candidate, triggering outcry from readers and staff as well. “From a distance you can’t look at this and say it isn’t an act to curry favor with one presidential candidate," said Peter Bhatia, chief executive of the Houston Landing, an independent, nonprofit digital news organization and the former editor of the Detroit Free Press. “That’s really unfortunate.
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