The Washington Post will not endorse any candidate in the 2024 presidential election, breaking a decades-long tradition

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CNN
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For the first time in decades, The Washington Post will not endorse a candidate in this year's presidential election, the newspaper's publisher announced Friday.

“The Washington Post will not endorse any presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election,” Will Lewis said in a released statement. “We are returning to our roots, which is opposing presidential candidates.”

The Post has endorsed a presidential candidate in every election since the 1980s. In his statement, Lewis referred to the editorial board's previous decisions not to endorse a candidate, noting that it is a right “to which we will return.”

“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. “That is inevitable,” Lewis continued. “We don’t see it that way. We see this as consistent with the values ​​the Post has always stood for and with what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in the service of American ethics, reverence for the rule of law and respect for human freedom in all its aspects aspects. ”

The Washington Post is owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Newspaper owners typically play a role in endorsing their publication and approving the editorials that are seen as expressing their views.

Before Friday's announcement, Post editorial board editor David Shipley told staff that Lewis would issue a public notice with the decision.

“The news is significant – and I know there will be strong reactions across the department,” Shipley wrote in a memo obtained by CNN.

The decision was sharply criticized by Marty Baron, the Post's former executive editor who led the newspaper through coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. The newspaper then won a Pulitzer Prize for Public Merit for its coverage of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, which it described as an “attempted coup.”

“This is cowardice, of which democracy is the victim. “Donald Trump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner Bezos (and others),” Baron wrote in a social media post. “Disturbing spinelessness in an institution known for its courage.”

During Trump's presidency, he famously feuded with Bezos, particularly when it came to Amazon. Trump called the Post “The Fake News Washington Post” and derided it as Amazon’s “chief lobbyist.”

Trump directly accused Amazon, among other things, of not paying enough taxes and exploiting the US Postal Service. The Trump administration also blocked Amazon's $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon, which was widely seen as Trump's attempt to retaliate against Bezos over the Post's reporting.

It was Bezos, Baron wrote in his book “Collision of Power,” who ultimately helped determine the Post's motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” adopted during the Trump era.

A Washington Post journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity told CNN on Friday that he had mixed feelings about the decision.

“I’m glad the post office no longer supports this. But what a terrible time and way to introduce this,” the person said. “If you’ve read the Post over the last few years and all the facts the news site has uncovered, I’m not sure you need the editorial board to tell you what to do.”

The decision comes just days after Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong blocked the paper's planned endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, leading to the resignation of three editorial board members.