Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has reportedly given the paper a mandate to add more conservative voices to its opinion section — even as he remains silent on the broadsheet’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate of the year 2024.
Bezos — the world’s second-richest person with a fortune that the Bloomberg Billionaires Index put at $211 billion as of Monday — is keen to win over a more ideologically diverse readership by expanding his newspaper’s reach among of right-leaning audiences, according to a report in The New York. Times.
The Amazon founder, meanwhile, has remained silent on the disapproval controversy. He has not spoken publicly amid protests from senior staff and prominent figures such as Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
Marty Baron, who was the paper’s executive editor when Bezos bought the Washington Post more than a decade ago, denounced the move as an act of “cowardice.”
The Washington Post staff was reeling from Bezos’ decision to block Harris’ approval, a draft of which was said to be all typed up and ready for publication.
The paper’s own reporters published an article alleging that Bezos himself made the decision to veto the endorsement — a move that raised eyebrows as it broke a 36-year tradition less than two weeks before the election.
Bezos hired former Wall Street Journal boss Will Lewis as his chief executive — despite protests from reporters at the paper, who cited his alleged involvement in the UK phone-hacking scandal.
Lewis, who said it was he, not Bezos, who killed the endorsement, wrote a column in which he said the decision was actually a return to a tradition the paper had years ago of not endorsing candidates.
He said it was “consistent with the values for which the Post has always stood” and reflected the paper’s belief in “the ability of our readers to make up their own minds”.
“We recognize that this will be read in a number of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility. This is inevitable,” Lewis wrote.
“We don’t see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values that Posta has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in the service of the American ethic, respect for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects. “
The decision sparked a backlash among staff and readers – with a large number of social media users saying they had canceled their subscriptions to the paper.
A Washington Post reporter said she was “heartbroken” when her mother canceled her subscription for the fake endorsement.
Robert Kagan, a member of the opinion section, resigned in protest. He said Lewis’ explanation was “laughable” and that the decision not to approve stemmed from an alleged collusion between Bezos and former President Donald Trump.
Bezos’ space exploration company Blue Origin has contracts with the federal government to build a spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the surface of the Moon.
“This is clearly an attempt by Jeff Bezos to curry favor with Donald Trump in anticipation of his possible victory,” Kagan told CNN on Friday.
“Trump has threatened to go after Bezos’ business,” Kagan added, referring to Amazon.
The drama that engulfed the Washington Post reflects the ongoing turmoil at the Los Angeles Times newsroom, where at least three editorial staff resigned in protest of owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong to block an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Soon-Shiong’s daughter recently said the refusal to endorse Harris stemmed from unhappiness over the Biden administration’s Israel policies, though the billionaire denied that was the case.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough criticized the “billionaires” who own the media and social media companies for “bowing” to Trump.
“Bowing down to a guy who says he’s going to be an autocrat is the first step,” Scarborough said on his show Monday. His comments were reported by Mediaite.
“It’s the billionaires against us. It’s the billionaires versus ‘We the people’. We can win. They can have their billions and buy their newspapers, but we the people can have the last word.”
“Bezos runs one of the biggest companies in America. They have an extremely complicated relationship with the federal government. They depend on the federal government.”
Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon in 2020, although he remains on the company’s board of directors and is the firm’s largest shareholder.
During Trump’s first term in office, he frequently criticized Bezos for his newspaper’s coverage of his administration.
In 2019, Amazon accused Trump of political retaliation after his administration denied the company a $10 billion contract with the Pentagon to provide cloud computing services.
The New York Post has sought comment from the Washington Post.
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