https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/25/jeff-bezos-killed-washington-post-endorsement-of-kamala-harris-.htmlThe Washington Post said Friday that it will not endorse a candidate in the presidential election this year, breaking decades of tradition, and sparking immediate criticism of the decision.The newspaper also published an article by two staff reporters saying that editorial page staffers had drafted an endorsement of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris over GOP nominee Donald Trump in the election.“The decision not to publish was made by The Post’s owner — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos,” The Post reported, citing two sources briefed on the events.Trump, while president, had been critical of Bezos and the Post. The newspaper in 2016 and again in 2020 endorsed Trump’s election opponents, Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden, in editorials that condemned the Republican in blunt terms.In a 2019 lawsuit, Amazon claimed it had lost a $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon to Microsoft because Trump had used “improper pressure ... to harm his perceived political enemy” Bezos.The Post since 1976 had regularly endorsed candidates for president, with the exception of the 1988 race. In all election years but for 1988 the paper had endorsed Democrats.CNBC has requested comment from the Post and Amazon.Post chief executive Will Lewis, in an online explanation of the decision, wrote, “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,” Lewis wrote.“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,” he wrote.
“That is inevitable. We don’t see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects.”Post editor-at-large Robert Kagan, a member of the paper’s opinions section, resigned on the heels of the decision, multiple news outlets reported.More than 10,000 comments were posted on Lewis’ article, many of them blasting the Post for its decision and saying they were canceling their subscriptions.“The most consequential election in our country, a choice between Fascism and Democracy, and you sit out? Cowards. Unethical, fearful cowards,” wrote one reader. “Oh, and by the way, I’m canceling my subscription, because you are putting business ahead of ethics and morals.”The announcement came days after Mariel Garza, the head of The Los Angeles Times’s editorial board, resigned in protest after that paper’s owner Patrick Soon-Shiong decided against running a presidential endorsement.“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent,” Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”Soon-Shiong, like Bezos, is a billionaire.Marty Baron, the former editor of The Washington Post, called the paper’s decision “cowardice, with democracy at its casualty.”″@realdonaldtrump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner @jeffbezos (and others),” Baron wrote. “Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
The Washington Post Guild, the union that represents the newspaper’s staff, in a statement posted on the social media site X said it was “deeply concerned that The Washington Post — an American news institution in the nation’s capital — would make a decision to no longer endorse presidential candidates, especially a mere 11 days ahead of an immensely consequential election.”“The message from our chief executive, Will Lewis — not from the Editorial Board itself — makes us concerned that management interfered with the work of our members in Editorial,” the Guild said in the statement, which noted the paper’s reporting about Bezos’s role in the decision.“We are already seeing cancellations from once loyal readers,” the Guild said. “This decision undercuts the work of our members at a time when we should be building our readers’ trust, not losing it.”Post columnist Karen Attiah, in a post on the social media site Threads, wrote, “Today has been an absolute stab in the back.”“What an insult to those of us who have literally put our careers and lives on the line to call out threats to human rights and democracy,” Attiah wrote.Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, in his own tweet on the news wrote, “The first step towards fascism is when the free press cowers in fear.”Trump in August told Fox Business News that Bezos called him after the Republican narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in July at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.“He was very nice even though he owns The Washington Post,” Trump said of Bezos.Bezos last posted on X on July 13, hours after the assassination attempt.“Our former President showed tremendous grace and courage under literal fire tonight,” Bezos wrote in that tweet. “So thankful for his safety and so sad for the victims and their families.”
>>1356261I'M OUTRAGED!!1 HE OUGHT TO APOLOGIZE!!11
>>1356265Something is going to happen to billionaires and at this point "taxed" is the best verb they can hope for.
>>1356261I'm OK with more humans as long as they're white, wealthy, well educated western Europeans.
look, another poltard larping as a white man
>>1356271No one cares what you're OK with thoughbeit
This is the sort of thing that German business leaders did when they realized Hitler might have a real chance of coming to power. Seems Bezos took the wrong lessons from history. His installation of Will Lewis, the amplification of right-wing columnists, the constant bashing of Biden, pursuing the horse-race at all costs - this is probably to protect his Pentagon and NASA contracts. Tough shit, Trump's still got you in his barely-coherent book of grudges - another 'enemy from within' to dispose of once Pelosi and Schiff are dealt with. He just made it more likely Trump'll win for nothing. 'Democracy Dies in Darkness', the top banner says, as the man at the top turns out the lights.
>>1356319Are you outraged?
>>1356402Yes.
>>1356261good first decent thing he's done in a decade.
>>1356442What did he do a decade ago?
>>1356443trigger the libs
>>1356261Did anyone think billionaires buying Media platforms would... Not constantly use it for whatever they want regardless of legality or ethics?No? Good.
>>1356487>newspaper endorsing a candidateliterally more stupid than celebrity endorsements because at least celebrities are private individuals who are registered to vote and have personal likes or dislikes. Newspaper is a product that nobody purchases anymore because we don't need printed paper delivered to our houses to tell us about recent and upcoming events both local and worldwide.
Do they honestly think this will save them from Trump's retribution?
>>1356504>Newspaper is a product that nobody purchases anymore because we don't need printed paper delivered to our houses to tell us about recent and upcoming events both local and worldwide.Hey retard (god damn your stupid I cannot understate that), you know that people purchase digital subscriptions so they can read on their phones and computers right?
The original thread that was up on this topic pissed off the libshit janny so bad he deleted it out of anger
Greedy goons love Trump!
>>1356519go subscribe to more newspapers
>>1356261I guess she didn't like the Rings of Power.
>>1356261Democrats when Bezos's newspaper endorses Hillary and Biden:>YAAAAASASSSS!!!Democrats when Bezos's newspaper doesn't endorse anybody:>OMG WTF THIS IS WHY WE SHOULDN'T HAVE BILLIONAIRES!>>1356266You're another leftist who pretends you're fighting against billionaires when really you're supporting the same mass immigration that billionaires advocate for.
>>1356730Thank the spaghetti monster that the leftists outnumber xenophobic chuds like you
Go start your own newspaper
>>1356730>OMG WTF THIS IS WHY WE SHOULDN'T HAVE BILLIONAIRES!When the fuck has anybody said this?
>>1356730I was saying we shouldn't have billionaires both times
>leftoid rag playing charades and pretending it feels too threatened to endorse a candidate to play along with the leftoid MSM narrative about cheeto hitlerWaPo is run by spineless pussies who don't want to endorse Harris because they know she's going to lose and they want to maintain distance from a pro-Israeli candidate once Trump wins and the left goes full extremist in response.
>>1357048They're right
Some newspapers actually criticized them for deciding not to endorse anyone lmao (Yes, you, The Guardian)! Not endorsing any candidate without being told to do so is actually a good thing, as they’re trying not to influence voters' decisions. Yet somehow, they were criticized for… showing no respect for the First Amendment by not exercising their editors' freedom of speech!? Democratic endorsers are acting super strange these days.
