AP via Scripps News
Billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on Monday defended the newspaper's decision not to endorse a presidential candidate as “right” and “principled” and pushed back against any notion that he ordered it up to protect his business interests.
That decision, announced Friday, has reportedly led to tens of thousands of people canceling their subscriptions and protests from journalists with a deep history at the newspaper. The Post's editorial staff was prepared to endorse Democrat Kamala Harris before publisher Will Lewis wrote instead that it would be better for readers to make up their own minds.
Bezos, in “a note from our owner” published Monday evening, said that editorial endorsements create a perception of bias at a time many Americans don't believe the media, and do nothing to tip the scales of an election.
“Ending them is a principled decision, and it's the right one,” Bezos said.
Bezos wrote that he wished the decision to end presidential endorsements had been done earlier, “in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it. That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.”
Bezos' decision caused an unprecedented spasm of anger both within journalism and outside it.
NPR reported on Monday that more than 200,000 people have canceled their subscriptions to the newspaper, citing “two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters.” A Post spokeswoman, Olivia Petersen, would not comment on the NPR report.
A loss of subscriptions of that magnitude would be a blow to a storied news outlet that is already facing financial headwinds. The Post had more than 2.5 million subscribers last year, the bulk of them digital, making it third behind The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal in circulation.
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