There has been a furious backlash among staff at The Washington Post following the decision to stop endorsing presidential candidates at elections.
The staff union at the newspaper has released a statement, saying they are “deeply concerned” about the decision, particularly given “the role of an editorial board” is, in part, to “endorse candidates to held guide readers”.
The statement went on to say that the fact that the message about the decision not to endorse came from the paper’s chief executive, rather than the editor, makes them “concerned that management interfered with the work of our members in editorial”.
It said that according to reporters at The Washington Post, it was the paper’s owner – Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – who personally made the decision not to publish the endorsement for Kamala Harris has already been drafted.
“The decision not to publish was made by The Post’s owner Amazon founder Jeff Bezos,” The Washington Post reported, citing two sources briefed on the move.
The union said the decision “undercuts the work of our members [reporters] at a time when we should be building our readers’ trust, not losing it”.
A Washington Post spokesperson denied the reporting from their own newspaper, as well as other outlets.
They said in a statement: “This was a Washington Post decision to not endorse, and I would refer you to the publisher’s statement in full.”
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