The Washington Post says it will not support the candidate for the first time in 30 years | US elections 2024

For the first time in more than 30 years, The Washington Post announced Friday that its editorial board will not endorse a candidate for president.

“We are returning to our roots and are not endorsing any presidential candidates,” Will Lewis, publisher and chief executive of the newspaper, said in a statement Friday, less than two weeks before the 2024 presidential election.

The Washington Post editorial board has supported a candidate in almost every presidential election since it supported Jimmy Carter in 1976. Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of Amazon, bought the post office in 2013.

Postal service executives' decision not to endorse a candidate in an election widely considered the most consequential in recent U.S. history sparked outrage among some prominent current and former employees and other notable figures.

Marty Baron, the former editor-in-chief of the Washington Post, criticized the newspaper's decision, calling it “cowardice of which democracy is the victim.”

Donald Trump, Baron said, will see this “as an invitation to further intimidate the owner” of the Washington Post, billionaire Jeff Bezos. “Disturbing spinelessness in an institution known for its courage,” he added.

Susan Rice, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a former domestic policy adviser to the Biden administration, called the decision “hypocritical.”

“So much for 'Democracy dies in the dark,'” she said, referring to the newspaper's official slogan, which was adopted under Bezos' ownership in 2017. “This is the most hypocritical and shitty move by a publication that is supposed to hold those in power accountable.”

David Moraniss, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and Post editor, added: “The newspaper I loved working for for 47 years is dying in obscurity.” Multiple media outlets have also reported that Robert Kagan, the newspaper's executive editor, decided to resign from the editorial board after the newspaper announced that she would not run for the presidential election.

The Washington Post's decision comes after widespread shock over a similar decision earlier this week by billionaire Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong to block a planned presidential endorsement of Kamala Harris. This move sparked high-profile resignations at the publication out of anger from the staff.

In his statement about the Post's decision, Lewis pointed to previous times when the newspaper's editorial board decided not to support presidential candidates, citing independent journalism that Lewis described as “right” and to which the newspaper is now “returning.”

“We recognize that this will be interpreted in a variety of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, a condemnation of another, or an abdication of responsibility,” Lewis said.

“It’s inevitable,” he said, adding: “We don’t see it that way.”

Rather, Lewis said it was “consistent with the values” the newspaper stood for and with what the newspaper wanted in a leader: “character and courage in the service of American ethics, reverence for the rule of law and respect for the people.” People. “Freedom in all its aspects”.

Lewis added that he believes the non-endorsement is also a statement that supports readers' ability to form their own opinions about the most consequential of all American decisions – “who to vote for as the next president.”

“Our mission at The Washington Post is to provide unbiased news for all Americans through the newsroom and to provide thought-provoking, reported views from our opinion team to help our readers form their own opinions,” he said, adding: “Most importantly, as a newspaper in the capital of the most important country in the world, our job is to be independent.”

“And that is what we are and will be,” he concluded.

NPR reported that many Washington Post employees reacted “shocked” and “universally negative.”

The Washington Post Guild, the union that represents many of the paper's employees, said in a statement Friday that it was “deeply concerned” by the paper's decision, “particularly just 11 days before an election with enormous implications.”

“The role of an editorial board is to do just that: share opinions on news that impacts our society and culture, and endorse candidates to provide guidance to readers,” it continued.

The guild also said that, according to the newspaper's reporters and guild members, the recommendation for Harris had already been prepared and the decision not to publish the paper was made by Bezos himself. The guild said it has already seen rejections from once-loyal readers.

The Columbia Journalism Review also reported Friday that the Washington Post editorial board had already developed a recommendation for Harris, saying that editorial page editor David Shipley had already told the editorial board a week ago that the recommendation was on the right track Gone and left the newspaper The board and staff were “stunned” when the announcement was made on Friday.

At the Los Angeles Times, the decision not to support the proposal led to its editor-in-chief, Mariel Garza, and several other board members resigning in protest.

“In dangerous times, honest people must stand up. This is how I stand up,” Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review about her decision to resign.

A Los Angeles Times journalist called her newspaper's decision “unreal” and “cowardly.”

The daughter of the publisher of the Los Angeles Times even commented on her father's decision not to have the newspaper endorse a candidate, posting a series of statements on social media suggesting that the decision not to endorse a candidate support, is also related to Harris' position on the war in Gaza.

“This is not a vote for Donald Trump,” she said, but rather a refusal to support Harris, who, she said, “is leading a war on children.”

Unlike the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, the New York Times editorial board endorsed Kamala Harris in September, calling her “the only choice” for president.

The Guardian has also endorsed Harris.