The Washington Post announced on Friday that it was not voting for Democrat Kamala Harris or her Republican rival Donald Trump in the coming US elections a choice recommendation will pronounce. This will also be avoided in future elections.
According to reports, this decision had more than 200,000 subscription cancellations the daily newspaper as a result.
Goal: Strengthen the credibility of the editorial team
In his own opinion piece, Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post and Amazon founder, defends the decision not to make a voting decision in the final spurt of the race for the White House. He assured that he no personal interests at the Washington Post pursued.
Rather, the change was made to… To strengthen the credibility of the editorial team. Many people are said to think media is “biased” anyway.
He will not allow the Washington Post to sink into insignificance and for people to instead inform themselves through poorly researched podcasts and social media posts.
In any case, election recommendations from the media would not persuade anyone to vote for a particular candidate. However, the controversial decision was made in the final phase of the election campaign “poor planning” Bezos admitted.
Newspaper already wrote recommendation for Harris
Reporters at the newspaper are said to have reported that already written a recommendation for Harris had been. However, Bezos decided against publication.
Die Journalists’ representatives from the Washington Post expressed concern about the fact that management seemed to have interfered in editorial matters.
Los Angeles Times Owner Bans Endorsement of Harris
However, it is not the only newspaper that surprised its readers by not recommending an election. The The Los Angeles Times declined just a few days before the Washington Post reported Harris’ expected official endorsement.
Their owner had that Editorial team prohibited from recommending Harris. Its boss, Mariel Garza, then resigned. “I’m stepping down because I want to make it clear that I I don’t agree with us staying silent” she said in an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review.
“In dangerous times, honest people have to stand up. This is my way of standing up,” Garza said.
