Jeff Bezos killed Washington Publish endorsement of Kamala Harris

The Washington Publish mentioned Friday that it’s going to not endorse a candidate within the presidential election this yr — or ever once more — breaking a long time of custom and sparking rapid criticism of the choice.

However the newspaper additionally printed an article by two workers reporters revealing that editorial web page staffers had drafted an endorsement of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris over GOP nominee Donald Trump within the election.

“The choice to not publish was made by The Publish’s proprietor — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos,” the article mentioned, citing two sources briefed on the occasions.

Trump, whereas president, had been crucial of the billionaire Bezos and the Publish, which he bought in 2013.

The newspaper in 2016 and once more in 2020 endorsed Trump’s election opponents, Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden, in editorials that condemned the Republican in blunt phrases.

In a 2019 lawsuit, Amazon claimed it had misplaced a $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon to Microsoft as a result of Trump had used “improper stress … to hurt his perceived political enemy” Bezos.

The Publish since 1976 had commonly endorsed candidates for president, aside from the 1988 race. All these endorsements had been for Democrats.

In an announcement to CNBC, when requested about Bezos’ purported position in killing the endorsement, Publish chief communications officer Kathy Baird mentioned, “This was a Washington Publish determination to not endorse, and I might refer you to the writer’s assertion in full.”

On Saturday, Publish writer Will Lewis issued an announcement denying that Bezos performed a job in killing the deliberate endorsement.

“Reporting across the position of The Washington Publish proprietor and the choice to not publish a presidential endorsement has been inaccurate,” Lewis mentioned within the assertion. “He was not despatched, didn’t learn and didn’t opine on any draft. As Writer, I don’t consider in presidential endorsements. We’re an unbiased newspaper and will assist our readers’ means to make up their very own minds.”

The Publish on Friday night printed a 3rd article, signed by opinion columnists for the newspaper, who mentioned, “The Washington Publish’s determination to not make an endorsement within the presidential marketing campaign is a horrible mistake.”

“It represents an abandonment of the elemental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love, and for which we have now labored a mixed 218 years,” the column mentioned. “It is a second for the establishment to be making clear its dedication to democratic values, the rule of legislation and worldwide alliances, and the menace that Donald Trump poses to them — the exact factors The Publish made in endorsing Trump’s opponents in 2016 and 2020.”

CNBC has requested remark from Amazon, the place Bezos stays the biggest shareholder.

Lewis, in an article printed on-line explaining the choice, wrote, “The Washington Publish won’t be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate on this election. Nor in any future presidential election.”

“We’re returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” Lewis wrote.

“We acknowledge that this shall be learn in a variety of how, together with as a tacit endorsement of 1 candidate, or as a condemnation of one other, or as an abdication of accountability,” he wrote.

“That’s inevitable. We do not see it that means. We see it as in line with the values The Publish has at all times stood for and what we hope for in a pacesetter: character and braveness in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of legislation, and respect for human freedom in all its features.”

Seven of the 13 paragraphs of Lewis’ article both quoted at size or referred to Publish Editorial Board statements in 1960 and 1972 explaining the paper’s rationale for not endorsing presidential candidates in these years, which included its id as “an unbiased newspaper.”

Lewis famous that the paper had endorsed Jimmy Carter in 1976 “for comprehensible causes on the instances” — which he didn’t establish.

“However we had it proper earlier than that, and that is what we’re going again to,” Lewis wrote.

“Our job because the newspaper of the capital metropolis of crucial nation on the planet is to be unbiased,” he wrote. “And that’s what we’re and shall be.”

Publish editor-at-large Robert Kagan, a member of the paper’s opinions part, resigned following the choice, a number of information retailers reported.

Greater than 10,000 reader feedback had been posted on Lewis’ article, lots of them blasting the Publish for its determination and saying they had been canceling their subscriptions.

“Essentially the most consequential election in our nation, a alternative between Fascism and Democracy, and also you sit out? Cowards. Unethical, fearful cowards,” wrote one remark. “Oh, and by the way in which, I am canceling my subscription, since you are placing enterprise forward of ethics and morals.”

The announcement got here days after Mariel Garza, the pinnacle of The Los Angeles Instances‘ editorial board, resigned in protest after that paper’s proprietor, Patrick Quickly-Shiong, determined in opposition to working a presidential endorsement.

“I’m resigning as a result of I wish to make it clear that I’m not okay with us being silent,” Garza informed the Columbia Journalism Evaluate. “In harmful instances, sincere folks want to face up. That is how I am standing up.”

Quickly-Shiong, like Bezos, is a billionaire.

Marty Baron, the previous editor of The Washington Publish, known as that paper’s determination “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”

″@realdonaldtrump will see this as an invite to additional intimidate proprietor @jeffbezos (and others),” Baron wrote. “Disturbing spinelessness at an establishment famed for braveness.”

The Washington Publish Guild, the union that represents the newspaper’s workers, in an announcement posted on the social media web site X mentioned it was “deeply involved that The Washington Publish — an American information establishment within the nation’s capital — would decide to now not endorse presidential candidates, particularly a mere 11 days forward of an immensely consequential election.”

“The message from our chief government, Will Lewis — not from the Editorial Board itself — makes us involved that administration interfered with the work of our members in Editorial,” the Guild mentioned within the assertion, which famous the paper’s reporting about Bezos’ position within the determination.

“We’re already seeing cancellations from as soon as loyal readers,” the Guild mentioned. “This determination undercuts the work of our members at a time after we must be constructing our readers’ belief, not dropping it.”

Former Publish reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, whose tales concerning the Watergate break-in throughout the Nixon administration received the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, in an announcement mentioned, “We respect the normal independence of the editorial web page, however this determination 11 days out from the 2024 presidential election ignores the Washington Publish’s personal overwhelming reportorial proof on the menace Donald Trump poses to democracy.”

“Below Jeff Bezos’s possession, the Washington Publish’s information operation has used its considerable assets to scrupulously examine the hazard and injury a second Trump presidency may trigger to the way forward for American democracy and that makes this determination much more stunning and disappointing, particularly this late within the electoral course of,” Woodward and Bernstein mentioned.

Publish columnist Karen Attiah, in a submit on the social media web site Threads, wrote, “Immediately has been an absolute stab within the again.”

“What an insult to these of us who’ve actually put our careers and lives on the road to name out threats to human rights and democracy,” Attiah wrote.

Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, in his personal tweet on the information wrote, “Step one in the direction of fascism is when the free press cowers in worry.”

Trump in August informed Fox Enterprise Information that Bezos known as him after the Republican narrowly escaped an assassination try in July at a marketing campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.

“He was very good despite the fact that he owns The Washington Publish,” Trump mentioned of Bezos.

Bezos final posted on X on July 13, hours after the assassination try.

“Our former President confirmed great grace and braveness underneath literal hearth tonight,” Bezos wrote in that tweet. “So grateful for his security and so unhappy for the victims and their households.”

Trump on Friday met in Austin, Texas, with executives from the Bezos-owned house exploration firm Blue Origin, amongst them CEO David Limp, the Related Press reported