Topline
Billionaire and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on Monday defended the paper’s decision to not endorse a presidential candidate, a move that has triggered intense backlash and staff resignations, along with 200,000 people reportedly canceling their digital subscription
Amazon founder and Washington Post Owner Jeff Bezos defended his paper’s decision to not endorse … [+]
Key Facts
In an op-ed for the paper, Bezos wrote Presidential endorsements “do nothing to tip the scales of an election” and wrote “No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, ‘I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.’”
The billionaire then argued that presidential endorsements “create a perception of bias…of non-independence” and the decision to end them was a “principled decision.”
Bezos wrote he wished “we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it,” but chalked the issue to “inadequate planning” rather than “some intentional strategy.”
The Washington Post owner said there was no quid pro quo at play, and neither of the candidates or their campaigns were consulted or informed about the decision beforehand.
Bezos cited surveys showing declining public faith in the news media and framed the decision as an effort to restore trust and avoid being replaced by “off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources.”
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Crucial Quote
“Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose…By itself, declining to endorse presidential candidates is not enough to move us very far up the trust scale, but it’s a meaningful step in the right direction,” Bezos wrote.
Tangent
While noting there was no “quid pro quo” in the decision, the billionaire addressed former President Donald Trump’s meeting with Dave Limp, the CEO of his rocket company Blue Origin, on the same day as the Washington Post’s announcement. “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. He said he did not know about the meeting beforehand and added that even Limp was unaware of the Washington Post’s decision. “There is no connection between it and our decision on presidential endorsements, and any suggestion otherwise is false.”
