That is why it was surprising that The Washington Post has announced that it will not openly express its preference between Donald Trump y Kamala Harris.
The editor of the newspaper William Lewis He has justified it in a brief editorial where he says that the role of the newspaper “is to provide non-partisan news to all citizens to help readers think and decide for themselves.”
Nonpartisan news for all Americans, and thought-provokingis the literal phrase used by Lewis, who is a Briton linked to London tabloid culture. He was involved in the scandal involving the eavesdropping of the missing and sensationalist The News of the World; He also worked for years within the magnate’s journalistic companies. Rupert Murdoch and – also worth noting – he worked as CEO of the Dow Jones index.
The demand for editorial independence of The Washington Post It now covers itself by remembering the old roots of the newspaper, but it is clear that it is not published with the majority support of its editorial staff, but rather by authoritarian imposition of the owner who is Jeff Bezosthe owner of Amazon.
It is the first time in almost four decades that The Washington Post He does not publicly lean towards any presidential candidate.
So far this century he has done so in favor of Democratic candidates in all presidential elections from 2008 to 2020 (when he asked for the vote for Joe Biden contra Donald Trump).
According to the prestigious National Public Radio (NPR), the United States public radio, the break with those pronouncements that occurred in the previous presidential elections has been imposed by Bezos against the majority idea that prevailed in the newsroom.
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/25/nx-s1-5165353/washington-post-presidential-endorsement-trump-harris
NPR speaks of a tense atmosphere within the newspaper, evident by several resignations of internal staff. Also because of the reaction of the subscribers: 1,600 canceled their subscription in the first four hours after it became known.
An hour after William Lewis’s editorial was published, the digital version of The Washington Post published another article signed by prominent editors of the newspaper in which they indicated that the draft of a text supporting Kamala Harris was underway before the owner’s takeover. “It is an insult to our colleagues at the newspaper and our readers,” they say.
Remember that the aforementioned old roots did not exist for half a century and that, on the contrary, not avoiding speaking out for one candidate or another was a symptom of true independence: «Editorial teams exist to value and express [el punto de vista] of the newspaper, so that the change in policy regarding presidential vote recommendations could have been [durante años] a principle long ignored. Why has the newspaper waited until only eleven days before the election to announce it?
Interests and threats
At this point we must take into account the interests of Amazon and Jeff Bezos, which involve substantial contracts with the federal Administration.
And we must not forget Trump’s open threats to the major media that have investigated his shadiest dealings, among them the main American newspapers, including The Washington Post.
The same has happened in Los Angeles Timeswhere Mariel Garzahead of the opinion pages and visible head of its committee of journalists, announced a day earlier that she was resigning because the owner of the leading newspaper on the west coast had vetoed the intention of the majority of the editors to publish their support for the candidate Kamala Harris. He has not been the only person who has resigned in Los Angeles Times.
According to Garza, supporting the Democratic candidacy was the most logical thing after a series of editorials in the newspaper “about how dangerous Trump is for democracy, about his unsuitability for the presidency and about his threats against his enemies.” He has also explained his personal resignation like this: “In dangerous times, honest people have to stand up.”
On the contrary, the wording of The New York Times More than three weeks ago, he expressed his support for Kamala Harris, referring to Donald Trump as a person “incompatible with a position that requires good judgment, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility and discipline, qualities that he lacks,” said the editorial of the New York newspaper. A text that titled The only patriotic choice (The only patriotic option).
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/opinion/editorials/kamala-harris-2024-endorsement.html
Several commentators outside The Washington Post y Los Angeles Times they interpret his proclamation neutrality as perhaps forced – but more or less implicit – support for Donald Trump.
Or at least as a carefully calculated forecast: on November 5, Kamala Harris will likely be the loser at the polls.
Without mincing words, Marty Baronwho was editor-in-chief of The Washington Post Until 2021, he has shown his anger against what he has defined as a “cowardly attitude that turns democracy into a victim.” He also interprets it as “an invitation to Donald Trump to continue threatening Jeff Bezos.”
Paradoxically, since the latter bought the newspaper, The Washington Post He assumed daily at his head the motto Democracy dies in darkness (Democracy dies in darkness).
A few words that the legendary journalist Bob Woodward It became popular years ago, after hearing that phrase from a judge at the time of the Watergate scandal, which ended Richard Nixon’s presidency.
Coinciding with the refusal to commit from his colleagues in Washington and Los Angeles, on Saturday, October 25 The New York Times has published a new editorial ratifying the reasons for its rejection of the authoritarian measures announced by Trump.
It is legitimate to think that the “cowardice” of The Washington Post y Los Angeles Times is based primarily on the interests of their respective owners.
It doesn’t bode well for Democrats. Nor for democracy in general.
Paco Audije He is a journalist. He was a contributor to the newspaper Hoy (Extremadura, Spain) in 1975/76. He worked in the Foreign Department of the Banco Hispano Americano (1972-1980). Until 1984, he collaborated in several general information publications. On Spanish Television (1984-2008), seven years as TVE correspondent in France. He covered current events in various European countries, as well as several international conflicts (Algeria, Albania, Kosovo, India and Northern Ireland, above all). In the International Federation of Journalists he has been a member of the Presidium of the IFJ/IFJ Congress (Moscow, 2007); Deputy Secretary General (Brussels, 2008-2010); advisor to the Steering Committee of the European Federation of Journalists EFF/EFJ (2013-2016); and of the FIP/IFJ Executive Committee (2010-2013 and 2016-2022). Twelve years correspondent for the French-speaking Belgian newspaper “La Libre Belgique”.
