The Washington Post is in deep turmoil as Bezos remains silent on non-endorsement
One day after The Washington Post announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate in this year’s election or in the future, kraken shop its billionaire owner remains silent as the newspaper’s staff are in turmoil.
Jeff Bezos has so far declined to comment on the situation, even as his own paper’s journalists reported that it was Bezos who ultimately spiked the planned endorsement. A source with knowledge told CNN on Friday that an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris had been drafted before it was squashed.
In the last 24 hours, at least one editor has resigned, and high-profile Post staffers have publicly expressed their dismay as many in the paper’s Opinion section are furious over how the situation was handled.
For many current and former staffers of the venerable newspaper, the timing of the announcement was highly suspect and has led them to believe Bezos’s business interests influenced the decision.
Former Post executive editor Marty Baron, who led the paper under Bezos during the first Trump administration called the decision an act of “cowardice.”
“To declare a moment of high principle, only 11 days before the election that is just highly suspect that is just not to be believed that this was a matter of principle at this point,” Baron told CNN’s Michael Smerconish on Saturday morning.