the The Washington Post The newspaper's general manager announced on Friday that the newspaper would not support any candidate in the US presidential elections, while the Daily Journalists Syndicate accused its owner, Jeff Bezos, of obstructing support for Kamala Harris.
William Lewis announced that the prestigious newspaper, famous for exposing Watergate, would also refrain from calling on its readers to vote for a candidate in the upcoming elections, in an online blog post that sparked many reactions from readers, most of them indignant.
He wrote: “We realize that this decision will raise many interpretations. It will be seen as an implicit endorsement of one candidate, a rejection of another, or an evasion of our responsibilities,” while opinion polls indicated this. He has so far failed to choose between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump.
Journalists Syndicate b The Washington Post He said he was “deeply concerned” by the decision, “barely 11 days before an election with enormous stakes,” and worried about “interference” in editorial board decisions.
“According to our journalists and members, support for Harris has already been formulated, and his”mail“Jeff Bezos has made the decision not to publish it,” the organization continues in a press release published in X.
The major American newspaper, owned by the Amazon founder since 2013, supported Democratic presidential candidates in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020.
In recent years, Jeff Bezos has signed large contracts with the US government, specifically with the Pentagon, in the field of data storage.
“Cheese”
CEO William Lewis described Friday's decision as a “return to basics.” The Washington Post For example, it refrained from encouraging its readers to vote for one candidate or another in 1960, before JFK won the election.
He defends the decision to be non-aligned “in line with the values” of the newspaper.
“Our mission, as a daily newspaper in the capital of the most important country in the world, is to be independent. This is what we are and what we will always be,” concludes the Director General.
His post sparked a torrent of angry comments from Internet users, most of whom promised to cancel their subscriptions.
One of them said: “I will not give money to a media outlet that feeds on cheese.”
Another wrote: “We will all die in the dark, and Jeff Bezos turned out the light,” referring to the newspaper’s famous slogan, “Democracy dies in the dark.” (“Democracy dies in the dark.”)Democracy dies in darkness“).
This decision is from The Washington Post He comes after the owner of another major American daily newspaper, Los Angeles TimesHe had objected to the decision of the newspaper's editorial committee, which wanted to support Kamala Harris.
Friday, New York PostThe ultra-conservative tabloid owned by businessman Rupert Murdoch encouraged people to vote for Donald Trump.
On September 30, the editorial board of the prestigious journal New York Times For his part, he expressed his support for the Democratic candidate.
These successive ads come in a campaign that has seen the big names in the American press lose their influence, both with voters and with the candidates themselves, whose attention is increasingly focused on other media, such as podcasts or TikTok.
