Washington Post won't endorse presidential candidate: NPR

Publisher and CEO Will Lewis says so Washington Post“is a return to our roots of rejecting presidential candidates,” although the last time she abstained from voting in a general election was in 1988.
Hide caption

Toggle label

Even though the presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is neck-and-neck, The Washington Post has decided not to issue a presidential recommendation for the first time in 36 years, the publisher and CEO announced Friday.

“We are returning to our roots of opposing presidential candidates,” wrote Will Lewis in an opinion piece published on the newspaper’s website. He pointed to the newspaper's politics in the decades before 1976, when it supported Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter following the Watergate scandal that the Post announced. The last time the Post failed to support a presidential candidate in the general election was in 1988, according to a search of its archives.

Colleagues learned the news from editorial page editor David Shipley at a tense meeting shortly before Lewis' announcement. The meeting was notable for allowing someone with direct knowledge of the discussions to speak about internal matters on condition of anonymity.

Shipley said he told other newsroom managers Thursday that management had decided there would be no support, even though he had known that for weeks. He added that he “owns” this decision. The reason he cited was to create an “independent space” in which the newspaper does not tell people who to vote for.

It was said that colleagues were “shocked” and consistently negative. post Company spokespeople did not respond to multiple messages left by NPR on this matter.

Former Washington Post Editor-in-Chief Martin Baron, who gave the newsroom widespread recognition during Trump's presidency, strongly condemned the decision.

“This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that sacrifices democracy,” Baron said in a statement to NPR. “Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate Post owner Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). History will mark a disturbing chapter in the spinelessness of an institution known for its courage.”

A similar decision by Los Angeles Times Owner Patrick Soon-Shiong led to the resignation of the newspaper's editor and two members of its editorial board this week. Soon-Shiong said he asked the editorial board to write a “factual analysis” of Trump and Harris’ policies and plans. In her resignation letter, editorial editor Mariel Garza said the decision made the newspaper appear “cowardly and hypocritical” given its past reporting and editorials about Trump.

The postThe investigative team has regularly reported on misconduct and allegations of illegality by former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee and his associates. The editorial board, which operates independently of the newsroom, has repeatedly said that Trump's conduct in office and his rhetoric as a candidate made him unfit for office.

The focus was particularly on what he did in January 2021 to encourage his supporters to refuse to formally certify President Biden's election.

During the election campaign, Trump threatened to take revenge on journalists and the media if he won the presidency again.

In particular, he has promised to jail reporters who refuse to identify the source of government leaks and to revoke the broadcast licenses of three major television networks. (Only local television stations are actually licensed by federal regulators, not the networks themselves. But the three networks collectively own 80 local television stations.)

The possibility that the post could withhold a recommendation was first reported in Oliver Darcy's Status newsletter. Even before Friday's announcement, the possible lack of an editorial caused consternation among journalists postwho see it as a major American publication that has to speak out on the most pressing issue of the day.

post Owner Bezos, the Amazon founder and one of the richest people in the world, has major contracts with the federal government in his other business areas, with billions of dollars in impact on Amazon's shipping business and cloud computing services, as well as on its space company Blue Origin.

In January, he brought in Lewis, who has a significant conservative following, as publisher and CEO. Lewis held the same role with Rupert Murdoch Wall Street Journal; served as editor of the London-based magazine telegraphwhich is closely linked to the Tory Party; and was an advisor to Conservative Boris Johnson when he was British Prime Minister.

Colleagues told NPR that Bezos chose Lewis in part for his ability to get along with powerful conservative figures, including Murdoch.

In his memoir “Collision of Power,” Baron wrote that then-publisher Fred Ryan did not want to support the 2016 race between Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Then Editorial Editor Fred Hiatt considered resigning. Bezos' response at the time: “Why shouldn't we make a recommendation?”