Presidential Endorsement Furore Grips US Media

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Anyone who reads The Addition will surely know that there has been a massive row in the US after the Washington Post and LA Times decided not to publish a presidential endorsement, late in the day. There is anger as many believe the rich owners of the newspapers, Jef Bezos (WaPo) and Patrick Soon-Shiong (Times) influenced the decision, fearing a Donald Trump win and backlash.

It is understood that a Washington Post endorsement of Kamala Harris was ready to go, although boss Will Lewis insisted Bezos had not seen it. He also said he doesn’t believe in endorsements anyway. In reality, it is unlikely that such an article would have changed many peoples’ minds. However, it very much seems to have made a difference in how people view D.C.’s hometown paper. Per David Folkenflik at NPR, 20,000 people have cancelled their subscriptions in the wake of the decision. There have also been various resignations at both papers.

Interestingly, although probably unsurprisingly, WaPo seems to have faced most of the backlash. I guess it is seen as more of a “national” paper than the L.A. Times. Also, politics is kind of what it does.

Cowardly to Not Run Presidential Endorsement

In some ways, Lewis’s justification makes sense:

We see [the decision] 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.

It’s a nice sentiment. Outlets should trust their readers. US newspapers insist they are impartial and endorsing a candidate might be seen as distorting that.

Bezos himself made a similar point in a piece explaining the call. He argued that there is already little trust in newspapers and a presidential endorsement would make no difference. He also accepted the perceived conflict of interests, but insisted they did not play a part in the decision.

However, given the timing of these decisions, and the fact we know a Washington Post piece endorsing the Vice President was already written, it doesn’t quite hold up. As discussed with Mathew Ingram in a new podcast episode, we will never really know what happened or why, but both Bezos and Soon-Shiong have hugely valuable businesses and could really do without any trouble from the White House. It is not hard to conclude that they are worried what might happen had their papers endorsed Harris and then Trump gone on to win.

Ultimately, it was a cowardly decision. Democracy dies in darkness.