For the first time in 36 years, The Washington Post will not endorse a presidential candidate. Publisher and CEO Will Lewis announced the decision to the newsroom on Friday. “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election,” Lewis wrote to staff. He claimed there would not be any endorsements in “any future presidential election,” either, adding: “We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”
In a longer editorial on the newspaper’s website, Lewis explained the return to a past editorial policy where endorsements were not made, a stance consistent with its approach prior to 1976. That year marked a shift when the paper supported Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter following its pivotal coverage of the Watergate scandal. Until now, 1988 stood as the last instance the Post withheld an endorsement in a general election.
Tensions reportedly emerged when editorial page editor David Shipley disclosed the decision in a recent meeting of the newspaper’s editorial board. The reaction within the organization is said to have been predominantly negative, mirroring a similar situation that continues to unfold with the Los Angeles Times‘s decision earlier this week to pass on making a 2024 endorsement.
The decision has drawn sharp criticism from former Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron, who described it as a failure of nerve that undermines democratic values.
“This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty,” Baron wrote in a statement shared with NPR. “Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
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