The Washington Post announces its refusal to support any of the US presidential candidates
The Washington Post, the prestigious American newspaper owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, announced on Friday that it won’t support either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump, candidates for the US presidential elections.
The Washington Post’s CEO, William Lewis, said this represented a return “to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates”.
For the past four decades, the Washington Post’s editorial board has supported candidates, all Democrats, before deciding now to remain neutral in one of the most polarizing elections in US history.
Although newspapers have lost the influence they once had, the Washington Post, whose slogan is “Democracy dies in darkness,” still retains significant influence among the elite in the US capital.
The Washington Post’s decision follows a similar move by the Los Angeles Times, one of the remaining major American newspapers.
Mariel Garza, editor of the Los Angeles Times, announced her resignation on Wednesday in protest over the paper’s owner’s blocking of the editorial board from issuing an endorsement of Harris.
By contrast, The New York Times endorsed Harris in September, calling her “the only national choice for president”.
Republican Trump received a special boost on Friday from the New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, which declared that “America is ready today to restore Donald Trump, the hero, to the presidency”.
Marty Baron, former executive editor of the Washington Post, attacked the newspaper’s “cowardice” that would bring down democracy.
Baron said Trump would view the decision as “an invitation to further intimidate” Bezos.
