Jeff Bezos Defends Washington Post's Controversial Decision Not to Endorse Presidential Candidates

In a significant op-ed published on a Monday evening, Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, addressed the recent controversial decision of the newspaper to refrain from endorsing a candidate in the upcoming presidential election. He characterized this move as a ‘meaningful step in the right direction’ aimed at rebuilding trust in the media among the American populace.

Bezos expressed a degree of regret, stating, “I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it”. He acknowledged the sensitivity of the timing of this decision on the election and the surrounding emotions.

This op-ed, titled “The hard truth: Americans don’t trust the news media”, was published shortly after NPR reported a decline in The Washington Post’s digital subscribers, with a reported loss of over 200,000 since the announcement by CEO Will Lewis regarding the newspaper’s shift in endorsement policy. This announcement also led to the resignation of three members from the paper’s editorial board, although they continued in their staff roles at the Post.

No Quid Pro Quo

Bezos, the founder of Amazon, cleared the air regarding the decision not to endorse a candidate, stating emphatically, “I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here”. He emphasized that the presidential campaigns of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump were not consulted or informed about the decision, asserting, “It was made entirely internally”.

Interestingly, Bezos mentioned that Dave Limp, the CEO of his space exploration company Blue Origin, met with Trump on the same day that Will Lewis announced the paper’s decision. Bezos expressed his dismay upon learning about the meeting, acknowledging that it could be misconstrued as a connection to the endorsement decision.

He emphasized, “But the fact is, I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand. Even Limp didn’t know about it in advance; the meeting was scheduled quickly that morning”. Bezos firmly asserted, “There is no connection between it and our decision on presidential endorsements, and any suggestion otherwise is false”.