Washington Post in the US Does Not Endorse Any Presidential Candidate
Decision Made for the First Time in 36 Years... "Surrender to Trump" Backlash
Staff and Readers Leaving... "We Must Stay and Keep Knocking on Doors Until the End"
When the American daily newspaper The Washington Post (WP) decided not to publish an editorial supporting the Democratic candidate for the first time in 36 years, causing a turbulent situation with columnists resigning one after another, one columnist expressed her intention not to resign.
Columnist Dana Milbank said that since WP announced its policy of not endorsing any specific candidate on the 25th (local time), she has received a flood of emails and messages from readers. The criticisms included, "I like your columns, but quit the company, or I will cancel my subscription," "Not resigning is equivalent to silently supporting Trump as president," "WP has become a lackey of a dictator," and "If you don't resign, you are effectively supporting Hitler."
People are passing by the headquarters of The Washington Post, a daily newspaper located in downtown Washington, D.C. [Photo by AP News]
In fact, WP's policy has provoked strong backlash from readers. According to the American public broadcaster National Public Radio (NPR), by noon on the 28th, 200,000 digital paid subscribers of WP had canceled their subscriptions. Before the departure, WP had 2.5 million subscribers, meaning about 8% of paid subscription revenue disappeared. Former WP editor Marcus Brauchli called it an "enormous number."
WP did not disclose the specific reasons for the subscriber departures, but NPR speculated that it was "after Jeff Bezos, the owner of the media and founder of Amazon, blocked support for Vice President Kamala Harris." Earlier, WP had revealed that "the editorial page editor wrote a draft editorial supporting Harris, but owner Bezos decided not to publish it." Subsequently, Robert Kagan, WP's executive editor, reportedly resigned in protest of the decision, and on the media's online edition, statements of staff opposition have become the most viewed articles.
Regarding this situation, Milbank said, "I understand the readers' anger," and pointed out, "Bezos's decision, made just 11 days before the presidential election, seemed like cowering before an ambitious dictator to protect business interests." It was reported that former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, met with executives of Bezos's aerospace company Blue Origin before WP's decision. However, Bezos's side stated, "There was no kind of quid pro quo," and that the decision was made to restore trust in the media.
However, Milbank argued, "Canceling WP subscriptions and boycotting the newspaper does not harm Bezos." She added, "His wealth comes not from WP subscribers but from Amazon Prime members and Whole Foods shoppers," and "Owning and supporting WP is just pocket change to him." She further said, "If readers want to strike a blow to Bezos for democracy, knocking on doors and supporting Harris over the next eight days will be a greater achievement," and "The more subscription cancellations there are, the more jobs will be lost and good journalism will decline."
She emphasized, "If journalists are ordered to take their hands off the pen, cancel sensitive articles, or are fired for performing their duties, I and my colleagues will urge readers to cancel subscriptions and will collectively resign," adding, "The moment I hear that I can no longer report the truth will be the time to look for another job, and until then, I will continue to write."
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