Jeff Bezos on Monday defended the Washington Post’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate as “principled,” with the billionaire founder of Amazon.com arguing Americans believe the media is biased. Bezos, who bought the newspaper in 2013, also pushed back against any notion that he ordered it up to protect his business interests.
On Friday, the Washington Post’s publisher, William Lewis, said the newspaper would not endorse a presidential candidate in this year’s election or in future elections, a stance that sparked outrage from and some of its current and former employees, as well as subscribers.
In the aftermath of the decision, tens of thousands of readers reportedly canceled their subscriptions, while one-third of The Post’s editorial board resigned, according to the Post. The Post’s editorial staff was prepared to endorse Democrat Kamala Harris before Lewis wrote instead that it would be better for readers to make up their own minds.
In “a note from our owner” published Monday evening, Bezos said that editorial endorsements create a perception of bias at a time many Americans don’t believe the media, and do nothing to tip the scales of an election. Bezos added that he wished the decision to end presidential endorsements had been done earlier, and blamed “inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.”
“Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one,” Bezos said.
Bezos’ decision caused an unprecedented spasm of anger both within journalism and outside it.
The decision followed a move by Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong to block that newspaper’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, which has spurred the resignation of several of its editorial board members. Both Soon-Shiong and Bezos are billionaires who made their fortunes outside the media industry.
Washington Post subscriptions
More than 200,000 people have canceled their subscriptions to the newspaper, citing “two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters,” NPR has reported. A Post spokeswoman, Olivia Petersen, would not comment on the NPR report.
A loss of subscriptions of that magnitude would be a blow to a storied news outlet that is already facing financial headwinds. The Post had more than 2.5 million subscribers last year, the bulk of them digital, making it third behind The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal in circulation.
In the decision’s wake, two of the newspaper’s columnists quit, and three of the nine members of the editorial board resigned their posts. The Post’s retired former editor, Martin Baron, who was editor when Bezos bought the paper, had denounced the decision on social media as “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.
Bezos’ business interests
Some critics suggested Bezos ordered the non-endorsement to protect his business interests, acting out of fear of retaliation if Donald Trump were elected. The Post endorsed Trump’s Democratic rivals in 2016 and 2020, and Trump has often denounced critical coverage by the paper.
In his column, Bezos said people can see his wealth and business interests as one of two things — a bulwark against intimidation or a web of conflicting interests. He insisted that his views are principled and that his track record as Post owner since 2013 backs that up.
“I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at the Post in favor of my own interests,” he wrote. “It hasn’t happened.”
He acknowledged that the chief executive of one of his companies, the space-exploration outfit Blue Origin, met with Trump last week on the same day the non-endorsement was announced.
“I sighed when I found out, because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision,” Bezos wrote. “But the fact is, I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand.”
He said that while he doesn’t and won’t push his own personal interests, he wouldn’t allow the Post to “stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance.”
“Many of the finest journalists you’ll find anywhere work at The Washington Post, and they work painstakingly every day to get to the truth,” he said. “They deserve to be believed.”
