On Friday, the Washington Post’s publisher, Will Lewis, announced that the paper would no longer make endorsements for president—after its journalists had already drafted an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. The decision was made by Jeff Bezos, the paper’s owner. Over a period of several weeks, a Post staffer told me, two Post board […]
Ian Bassin, a democracy expert, calls these moves “anticipatory obedience”: fear by owners that if Trump wins he could take vengeance on companies that cross him. They noted that the leadership at CNN and the Post changed after the Trump administration tried to block the takeover of CNN’s parent company and tried to deny a cloud computing contract for Amazon, Bezos’s company.
That’s very telling and a stark reminder why decentralization in media and the entire economy is important.
Washington Post editor-at-large Robert Kagan stepped down in the meantime. As Semafor reports on the newspaper’s recent editorial meeting:
[…] But there may be more: “people are shocked, furious, surprised,” said an editorial board member [referring to Jeff Bezos’ non-endorsement decision], citing internal discussions around resignation. “If you don’t have the balls to own a newspaper, don’t.”
"Under Jeff Bezos’s ownership, the Washington Post’s news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and damage a second Trump presidency could cause to the future of American democracy and that makes this decision even more surprising and disappointing, especially this late in the electoral process.”
That’s very telling and a stark reminder why decentralization in media and the entire economy is important.
Washington Post editor-at-large Robert Kagan stepped down in the meantime. As Semafor reports on the newspaper’s recent editorial meeting:
Addition:
Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein Blast Washington Post’s ‘Surprising’ Decision Not To Endorse