By Dave Andrusko
The Washington Post, self-important as always, adopted the motto/slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” just after the election of Donald Trump. Then Mr. Trump was merely a “threat to democracy.” Now he is a “fascist” in the eyes of people who take their cues from publications such as The Washington Post.
This morning Publisher and CED William Lewis said the paper will not make an endorsement in this year’s presidential election nor will it in the future. In a post on the paper’s website, Lewis wrote that the decision means “we returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”
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. That is inevitable. We don’t see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects. We also see it as a statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds on this, the most consequential of American decisions — whom to vote for as the next president.
Of course, the staff went bonkers. We’ll get to that in a second.
Manuel Roig-Franzia and Laura Wagner wrote about the brouhaha at 1:09 p.m. EDT.
The decision, 11 days before an election that most polls show as too close to call, marks the second time this week that a major media organization has declined to issue an endorsement in the race between the Republican nominee, former president Donald Trump, and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, after years of making such endorsements. Earlier this week, Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, blocked a planned endorsement of Harris, prompting the resignation of the newspaper’s editorials editor.
Robert Greene, an editorial writer, and Karin Klein, another editorial board member, both resigned. According to NPR, “Editor-at-large Robert Kagan, who has been highly critical of Trump as autocratic, told NPR he had resigned from the editorial board as a consequence”
NPR’s David Folkenflik filled in background not found in the accounts of the Post and the New York Times.
Colleagues learned the news from the editorial page editor, David Shipley, at a tense meeting shortly before Lewis’ announcement. The meeting was characterized by two people with direct knowledge of discussions on condition of anonymity to speak about internal matters.
Shipley had approved an editorial endorsement for Harris that was being drafted earlier this month, according to three people with direct knowledge. He told colleagues the decision was to endorse was being reviewed by the paper’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos. That’s the owner’s prerogative and is a common practice.
On Friday, Shipley said that he told other editorial board leaders on Thursday that management had decided there would be no endorsement, though Shipley had known about the decision for awhile. He added that he “owns” this outcome. The reason he cited was to create “independent space” where the newspaper does not tell people for whom to vote.
In a text message to The Post, former Post executive editor Martin Baron, “who led the newsroom to acclaim during Trump’s presidency, denounced the decision starkly,” according to Folkenflik, laid into the decision.
“This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty. Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). He added, “History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
Using anonymous sources Roig-Franzia and Wagner wrote
An endorsement of Harris had been drafted by Post editorial page staffers but had yet to be published, according to two sources briefed on the sequence of events who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The decision not to publish was made by The Post’s owner — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — according to the same sources.
New York Times reporters Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson wrote
The Post’s editorial board had contacted the Harris campaign and the Trump campaign to request interviews ahead of its decision to endorse, two of the people said. Ms. Harris declined the interview and the Trump campaign didn’t respond, one of the people said.
For their part, wasting no times, The New York Times editorial board, endorsed Ms. Harris for president on Sept. 30. Interestingly enough they also told their readers in August they would stop endorsing candidates in New York elections, including the New York City mayoral race and governor.
Mullin and Robertson did offer some context:
A growing number of news outlets are moving away from political endorsements. In 2022, the second-largest newspaper operator in the country, Alden Global Capital, announced that its 200 newspapers would no longer endorse candidates in races for president, Senate and governor, saying readers were “often confused” about the distinction between news and opinion. The new owners of The Baltimore Sun said in January that they would also stop making endorsements.
By 3:20, there were over 8,000 reader responses, virtually all enraged, to the Post story announcing the decision not to endorse. Mr. Lewis’s column had over 10,000 reader responses, equally hot.