The Washington Post has said it will neither endorse Donald Trump nor Kamala Harris for the 2024 US elections, barely 11 days away. The decision not to endorse a presidential candidate has been greeted with mixed reactions.
The Washington Post is a widely circulated American daily Newspaper published in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. Originally founded in 1877, it prides itself on being the third largest newspaper in the U.S., amassing as many as 135,980 print subscribers and 2.5 million digital subscribers, according to 2023 data. It is otherwise called WP or The Post and comes next in line to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal newspapers, also published in the U.S. with a national readership.
In an opinion piece published on the newspaper’s website Friday, The Posts’ publisher, Will Lewis, disclosed that the paper is not making an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race. According to Lewis, a former Rupert Murdoch associate hired less than a year ago, the decision was in a bid to make a brave declaration about its independence.
Lewis said in a short statement, “We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader. We also see it as a statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds.”
In another part of the text, the publisher stated: “We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” referencing the paper’s policy in the decades before 1976.
While there are opposing sides in reaction to the decision, Americans are worried about the timing’s insensitivity, describing Lewis’ statement as the worst message.
The last time The Post did not endorse a presidential candidate for the general elections was in 1988, according to online sources. However, for 36 years since the 1770s, The Washington Post has been known for endorsing candidates for presidential elections in the U.S.
According to sources, Lewis’ announcement of The Posts’ decision to not endorse a presidential candidate for the 2024 elections between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was preceded by a tense meeting where the newspaper’s editorial page editor, David Shipley, had approved the publication of an endorsement for Harris that was drafted earlier this month. However, the decision was overturned by the paper’s billionaire owner Jeff Bezos. These speculations are yet unclear as no direct attribution to Bezos was made by either Lewis or the paper’s editorial page. Instead, “Independent space” was cited by Shipley when he broke the news to the editorial board that the newspaper management has decided not to endorse a candidate this year.
As evident in the public space, where many have criticised the decision, including Former Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron, who starkly denounced it, it was gathered that colleagues in the editorial board were “shocked” and uniformly negative about it, which also led to Robert Kogan’s resignation from the editorial board.
Kogan was The Post’s Editor-at-large and is known for criticising Donald Trump as autocratic.
Many have described the forthcoming November 5 elections between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as “neck-to-neck” given the high chances both candidates have of winning the ticket to the White House.
To be continued…
