Washington Post union, employees riot over decision not to endorse presidential candidate, blame Bezos

Washington Post employees riot after ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’ newspaper announces it will not endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election.

On Friday, the Post’s publisher and managing director, William Lewis, announced that the paper would not receive a presidential endorsement this year or in any future presidential election. “We’re going back to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” Lewis said.

Soon after, the Washington Post Guild released a scathing statement condemning the decision.

“We are deeply concerned that The Washington Post — an American news outlet in the nation’s capital — would make the decision to stop endorsing the presidential candidates, especially just 11 days before an election of huge consequence. The role of an editorial board is to do just that: to share opinions on news that affects our society and culture and to support candidates to help guide readers,” Guild said.

The Washington Post announces that he will not endorse in the 2024 race or “in any future presidential election”

“The message from our Executive Director, Will Lewis — not from the Editorial Board itself — makes us concerned that management has interfered with the work of Editorial Board members,” Guild continued. “According to our own reporters and Guild members, an endorsement for Harris has already been drafted, and the decision not to publish was made by The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos.”

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The guild added: “We are already seeing cancellations from once-loyal readers. This decision undermines the work of our members at a time when we should be building the trust of our readers, not losing it.”

Guild posted a link encouraging action, saying, “Are you a Washington Post reader concerned about today’s decision for the Editorial Board not to endorse a candidate this election cycle? Submit a letter to CEO and Editor Will Lewis and the Editorial Page. Editor David Shipley.”

Posts Editor at Large Robert Kagan he resigned because of the decisionand former executive editor Martin “Marty” Baron denounced it as “cowardice”.

“This is cowardice, with democracy as the victim. @realdonaldtrump will see this as an invitation to further bully owner @jeffbezos (and others). Disturbing spinelessness in an institution renowned for courage,” Baron wrote on X.

Washington Post columnist and associate editor Karen Tumulty republished Baron’s message.

Post climate change reporter Brianna Sacks retweeted Baron and wrote in reaction to news of the decision: “We won a Pulitzer for public service for our coverage of the Jan. 6 uprising.”

A former senior Washington Post staffer also echoed Baron’s sentiment, saying the decision was “dysfunctional.”

“It very dishonestly draws false equivalencies,” they told Fox News Digital. “This isn’t, like, Kamala Harris vs. Mitt Romney. This is Kamala Harris against someone who tried to look at the electorate last time.”

“And if you’re going to decide that it’s not the role of an editorial board to advocate, then don’t advocate. Don’t advocate for the Senate. Don’t advocate for the House. Just don’t advocate,” they continued. .

The ex-employee has heard from former colleagues in distress saying they are “shocked” and “deeply disappointed” and said current staff believe the explanation given is a “fig leaf”.

“We’ve heard they’re completely inundated with cancellations,” the source said.

They told Fox News Digital: “I’ve never honestly been ashamed of The Post until today. “The first mission of a newspaper is to tell the truth as nearly as the truth can be ascertained.” This is from Principles of The Post by Eugene Meyer. Today’s decision is an abject abdication of these principles.

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The former Post employee warned of the “chilling effect” this could have on the newsroom.

“You know this is an editorial issue. There was indeed a division between church and state. But I know there are people in the newsroom who have roots in the newsroom and that stings,” they said. “And I think people in the newsroom are thinking ‘if they’ve killed an endorsement, maybe a story will be far behind.’ And Lewis certainly expressed a desire to at least try that, if Trump wins, who would want to cover that administration for The Post, all the while looking over their shoulder to see if the editor or the owner will do it. be angry There is a chilling effect on the mission of the place that this movement sends.”

Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah took to X to scold her employer.

“Today was an absolute kick in the back. What an insult to those of us who put our careers and lives on the line to call out threats to human rights and democracy,” Attiah wrote.

In The Post’s own Style section news coverage reported“The decision upset many on the editorial staff, which operates independently of The Post’s news staff, a longstanding tradition in American journalism designed to separate opinion writing from day-to-day news coverage.”

Health care reporter Fenit Nirappil tweeted about the report: “Our news continues to report without fear. Even when it comes to our own bosses.”

He included images of two particular quotes:

“An endorsement of Harris had been drafted by the Post’s editorial staff but had not yet been published, according to two sources briefed on the sequence of events who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The decision not to publish was made by The Post’s owner — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — according to the same sources.”

“This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty. Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further bully The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners),” former publisher Post executive Martin Baron, who ran the paper while Trump was president, said in a text message to The Post. “History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness in an institution renowned for courage.”

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A source close to Washington Post management claimed that Fox News Digital that Bezos was not involved in the decision. However, a separate source spoke to Fox News Digital and believes otherwise, citing The Post’s own reports that the billionaire directly intervened.

“A lack of support would have made sense if it had been announced before the nominees were known. But doing so 11 days before the election suggests Bezos is worried about losing government contracts if Trump wins. So it’s flagging bullying activity,” Current Post staff told Fox News Digital. “Trump has certainly caused problems for Bezos during his presidency, killing a large cloud computing contract and messing up Amazon’s postal contract. So he knows how expensive a second term would be if Trump were upset about our coverage.”

The staff also said that Baron is “regarded as a hero” for his X post, adding that he “framed the stakes correctly”.

As for current Post leader Lewis, the source said he has “lost the newsroom.”

“I wouldn’t trust a word that Will Lewis or any of his people say,” the employee told Fox News Digital. “He lost the newsroom over the summer. He never shows his face again. We get weekly rah-rah emails. That’s it. He used to hang around the newsroom, but he seems to know he’s not welcome.”

A Post spokesman declined to comment further, but reiterated that it was a “Washington Post decision.”

11 Post opinion columnists he wrote a statement calling the decision a “terrible mistake.”

“The Washington Post’s decision not to make an endorsement in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake. It represents an abandonment of the core editorial beliefs of the newspaper we love and have worked for for 275 years. This is a moment. for the institution to make clear its commitment to democratic values, the rule of law and international alliances, and the threat Donald Trump poses to them — the precise points The Post made in supporting Trump’s opponents in 2016 and 2020 “, they said.

“There is no contradiction between The Post’s important role as an independent newspaper and its practice of making political endorsements, both as a matter of guidance to readers and as a statement of core beliefs. This has never been truer than in the current campaign. An independent newspaper may one day choose to drop its presidential endorsement, but now is not the time when a candidate is espousing positions that directly threaten press freedom and the values ​​of the Constitution.

It was signed by Perry Bacon Jr., EJ Dionne Jr., Lee Hockstader, David Ignatius, Heather Long, Ruth Marcus, Dana Milbank, Catherine Rampell, Eugene Robinson, Jennifer Rubin and Karen Tumulty.

The post published an image by editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes titled “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” which was exactly what looked like lines of black paint.

Notorious Post Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein issued a statement saying, “We respect the traditional independence of the editorial page, but this decision 12 days before the 2024 presidential election ignores the Washington Post’s overwhelming evidence of the threat to which is represented by Donald Trump. democracy, under the ownership of Jeff Bezos, the Washington Post news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and harm that a second Trump presidency could do to the future of American democracy, and that is what this decision and more surprising and disappointing, especially this one. late in the electoral process”.

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In the political world, former Biden adviser Susan Rice wrote several posts expressing her outrage.

“As a DC native and lifelong Post subscriber, I am disgusted. You’ve lost us,” she wrote, then added: “So much for ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness.’ This is the most hypocritical, chicken (- –) pass from a publication that is supposed to hold people accountable.”

She responded to a report about a member of the Washington Post editorial board rejecting the decision, saying, “So what are they going to do about it? The Post’s entire editorial department should get out.”

“This is what the oligarchy is about. Jeff Bezos, the 2nd richest person in the world and owner of the Washington Post, overrules his newsroom and refuses to endorse Kamala. Clearly, he is afraid of antagonizing Trump and losing Amazon’s federal contracts. Pathetic,” wrote Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

This article will be updated as more responses come in…

Source of the original article: Washington Post union, employees riot over decision not to endorse presidential candidate, blame Bezos