More than 250,000 Washington Post readers — or 10% of the paper’s customer base — have canceled their subscriptions after owner Jeff Bezos blocked its editorial board from publishing an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a report.
Over the weekend, the iconic broadsheet had lost 200,000 subscribers after it was first learned that management had decided it would no longer allow its editorial board to endorse a presidential candidate in the current race as well as future elections, according to media reports.
The tycoon on Monday published an op-ed in his newspaper defending the move as “a principled decision” given that presidential approvals “create a perception of one-sidedness.”
But Bezos’ explanation apparently didn’t reassure Washington Post readers.
As of Tuesday, more than 250,000 of them canceled their accounts, according to National Public Radio.
A Washington Post spokesman declined to comment.
A loss of subscriptions of that magnitude would be a blow to a popular news paper already facing financial headwinds.
The Post had more than 2.5 million subscribers last year, most of them digital, making it third behind the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal in circulation.
Amazon founder Bezos, whose $213 billion net worth is the second-largest in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, was partying with Katy Perry in Europe on Friday as the unrest unfolded in the Washington newsroom. Post.
In his guest essay Monday, Bezos wrote that editorial endorsements create a perception of bias at a time when many Americans distrust the media and do nothing to tip the election scales.
“Terminating them is a principled decision and it’s the right one,” Bezos said.
Bezos wrote that he wished the decision to end presidential endorsements had been made earlier, “at a time further away from the election and the emotions surrounding it. This was inadequate planning rather than any deliberate strategy.”
After the decision, two of the newspaper’s columnists resigned and three of the nine members of the editorial board resigned from their posts.
Retired former Post editor Martin Baron, who was editor when Bezos bought the paper, denounced the decision on social media as “cowardly, with democracy as the victim.”
Some critics suggested that Bezos, also the owner of Amazon, ordered the disapproval to protect his business interests, acting out of fear of retaliation if former President Donald Trump was elected.
The Washington Post endorsed Trump’s Democratic rivals in 2016 and 2020, and Trump has often denounced critical coverage from the paper.
In his column, Bezos said people can see his wealth and business interests as one of two things — a shield against intimidation or a web of conflicting interests.
He insisted that his views are principled and that his track record as owner of the Post Office since 2013 backs that up.
“I defy you to find a time in those 11 years where I prevailed over anyone at the Post in favor of my interests,” he wrote.
“It didn’t happen.”
According to Semaphore, about 18,000 readers have canceled their subscriptions to the LA Times.
Meanwhile, angry readers have also abandoned another left-leaning publication that has decided to drop an endorsement of Harris — the Los Angeles Times, whose billionaire owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, also intervened against the wishes of his editorial board.
Members of the editorial board of both newspapers resigned from their posts in protest at the decision.
The Post has sought comment from the LA Times.
By postal wire
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