Business
Washington Post stops endorsing presidential candidates
The Washington Post announced Friday that it has ended its tradition of endorsing a candidate in the U.S. presidential election, sparking outrage among staff members and causing some readers to cancel their subscription.
“The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election,” publisher and CEO William Lewis said. “We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”
This will be the first time since 1988 that the Washington Post has not endorsed a presidential candidate, even though the newspaper’s editorial staff had already prepared an article to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.
The move sparked outrage among a number of employees and some readers said they had canceled their subscription. The newspaper’s editor-at-large, Robert Kagan, resigned in protest.
“This is cowardice, with democracy as its casualty,” said Marty Baron, who led the paper while Donald Trump was president. “Donald Trump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner Jeff Bezos (and others). Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
Lewis defended his decision, saying the newspaper’s job is to be independent.
“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility. That is inevitable,” Lewis said. “We don’t see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects. We also see it as a statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds on this, the most consequential of American decisions — whom to vote for as the next president.”
-
World4 days agoCargo plane plunges into sea at Hong Kong airport; 2 killed
-
Business1 week agoYouTube restores service after widespread global outage
-
Legal4 days agoMan armed with AR-15 arrested after threats to ‘shoot up’ Atlanta airport
-
Health5 days agoMexico reports new human case of H5 bird flu
-
World4 days agoMagnitude 5.0 earthquake rattles Dominican Republic
-
World1 week agoCar bomb explodes near shopping mall in Ecuador’s largest city
-
World7 days agoEstonia permanently closes road through Russian territory
-
World1 week agoU.S. Special Operations helicopters spotted near Venezuela
