The Washington Post is in deep turmoil as Bezos remains silent about the non-approval

New York
CNN
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A day after The Washington Post announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate in this year’s election or in the future, the billionaire owner remains silent while the newspaper’s staff is in turmoil.

Jeff Bezos has so far declined to comment on the situation his own newspaper journalists reported that it was Bezos who ultimately provided the planned support. A source with knowledge told CNN on Friday that an endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris was prepared before it was rejected.

In the past 24 hours, at least one editor has resigned, and top Post staff members have publicly expressed their dismay, as many in the paper’s opinion section are outraged by the way the situation has been handled.

For many current and former employees of the venerable newspaper, the timing of the announcement was highly suspicious, leading them to believe that Bezos’ business interests influenced the decision.

Former Post editor-in-chief Marty Baron, who led the paper under Bezos during the first Trump administration, called the decision an act of “cowardice.”

“To announce a moment of high principle just eleven days before the election is highly suspect and it’s just beyond belief that this was a matter of principle at this point,” Baron told CNN’s Michael Smerconish on Saturday morning.

Trump has “constantly” threatened Bezos, Baron noted. But when Baron was in charge of the paper, Bezos “resisted that pressure” and was “proud” and “grateful” for that leadership.

“Bezos has other commercial interests, a major interest, and Amazon has a space company called Blue Origin,” Baron said. “Trump has threatened to go after his political enemies and he is rewarding his friends and he is punishing his perceived political enemies and he thinks there is no other explanation for what is happening now.”

Baron said Post publisher Will Lewis’ defense of the non-endorsement was “laughable,” noting that the Post has endorsed in other races.

“If their philosophy is that readers can make up their own minds about the big issues they face in this democracy, then don’t write editorials,” Baron said. “But the fact is that it was only eleven days before the election that they decided not to run an editorial in this one case.”

In a statement to CNN on Saturday, Lewis pushed back on reports about Bezos’ role in the approval decision.

“The reporting on the role of the owner of The Washington Post and the decision not to publish a presidential endorsement is inaccurate,” Lewis said. “He was not directed, did not read or gave an opinion on any concept. As a publisher, I don’t believe in presidential endorsements. We are an independent newspaper and must support our readers’ ability to form their own opinions.”

Several current Post journalists told CNN they have no problem with the editors not approving in any situation, and some actively agree with the decision. But they all found the timing of the announcement extremely disturbing.

“If we decide that now just before the election, we will be in a lose-lose position: cowards for giving in, or whining for not supporting Harris, which the Trump campaign is already trying to use to undermine us,” one journalist said from the Post to CNN. Another told CNN that “people are angry and feel that senior managers are undermining journalism.”

Others expressed deep concern that a wave of readers who responded to the news have canceled their subscriptions, something that will have a direct impact on the functioning of the newsroom.

Robert Kagan, a Post columnist and opinion editor who had worked at the newspaper for 25 years, publicly resigned Friday as a direct result of the non-approval.

“This is clearly an attempt by Jeff Bezos to curry favor with Donald Trump in anticipation of his possible victory,” Kagan told CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront on Friday. “Trump has threatened to go after Bezos’ business. Bezos runs one of the largest companies in America. They have extremely complicated relationships with the federal government. They depend on the federal government.”

Trump had a meeting on Friday Blue Origin executivesBezos’ space exploration company, hours after the Post announced its decision on Friday. The company has a Contract worth $3.4 billion with the federal government to build a new spacecraft to take astronauts to and from the moon’s surface.

Trump advisors and supporters have been crowing since the billionaires of both the Post and the Los Angeles Times stepped in to prevent their papers from endorsing Harris.

A post on X from a Post reporter noting that Trump met with Blue Origin executives the same day the Post declined to endorse Harris was reposted by Trump spokesman Steven Cheung along with multiple “love” emojis.

Trump’s senior adviser, Stephen Miller, also weighed in on the non-approval. to write: “You know the Kamala campaign is sinking when even the Washington Post refuses to show its support.”

Earlier this week, the Trump campaign used the Los Angeles Times’ non-approval in a fundraising email, calling it a “humiliating blow” to Harris.

Other staffers said the decision not to endorse will ultimately harm American democracy, even as Lewis asserted in his note to readers that the move should not be seen as a “tacit endorsement of one candidate, or a condemnation of another.”

In a joint statement, legendary Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame called the decision “surprising and disappointing,” noting that the timing of the announcement “contrasts the Washington Post’s overwhelming evidence of the threat Donald Trump poses.” Trump is ignoring democracy.”

A group of 17 Post Opinion columnists also published a statement On Friday evening, their own newspaper’s decision not to support a candidate in the presidential election was criticized as a “terrible mistake.”

“The Washington Post’s decision not to endorse the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake,” they wrote. “It represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial beliefs of the newspaper we love and have worked for for a combined 218 years.”