The text was short and unembellished, like a dispatched constraint. On Friday, October 25, 11 days before the US presidential election, The Washington Post‘s chief executive William Lewis announced that the daily would not endorse a candidate, a first since 1988. This would be a simple “returning to our roots,” Lewis claimed, drawing on past editorials which had imposed the same restraint in 1960 and 1972.
“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility,” the text stated. “That is inevitable.” Lewis affirmed that The Washington Post‘s mission remains to offer “nonpartisan news” and to be “independent.”
“What has just happened is humiliating for us as an institution, and deeply worrying,” confided a senior journalist to Le Monde. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, two members of the editorial board had worked for several weeks on drafting an endorsement for Kamala Harris. The cancellation of this endorsement in favor of an alleged neutrality was very badly perceived by newsroom staff, who were presented with a fait accompli, despite the fact that their coverage of the campaign was otherwise thorough and of high quality.
‘Cowardice, with democracy as its casualty’
In response, conservative political scientist Robert Kagan announced his symbolic resignation from the editorial board. Marty Baron, the paper’s former executive editor, also reacted strongly on social media network X: “This is cowardice, with democracy as its casualty. Donald Trump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner Jeff Bezos (and others). Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
Bezos, head of Amazon and the owner of The Washington Post, is suspected of imposing this decision, in anticipation of the possibility of a new Donald Trump presidency, which could clash with his interests. The newspaper’s journalists’ union is itself relaying this accusation, and has already reported that loyal readers are unsubscribing. Democratic Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders sees in this coup de théâtre the revelation of “what Oligarchy is about,” Bezos being afraid, according to him, of losing “Amazon’s federal contracts.” Another tech giant, Mark Zuckerberg, head of Meta and founder of Facebook, had also announced that he would not be supporting anyone in the election, receiving congratulations from Trump.
According to court documents, Amazon complained in 2019 that it had been discriminated against by Trump, then in the White House, in a $10 billion Pentagon tender, eventually awarded to Microsoft. But from an industrial point of view, Bezos has no obvious political friends, but rather, complex interests. In September 2023, Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, along with 17 state attorneys general, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, accusing it of monopolistic practices.
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