After LA Times, Washington Post says it will not endorse presidential candidate for first time in 30 years

American news outlet The Washington Post announced on Friday that it will not endorse any candidate for the first time in over 30 years. The outlet stated that its editorial board would not be making any endorsements of either of the candidates participating in the November polls.

“We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” Will Lewis, the newspaper’s publisher and chief executive officer said in a statement on Friday. Interestingly, the announcement came after it was revealed that the owners of The LA Times have blocked the newspaper’s endorsement of US Vice President Kamala Harris.

It is pertinent to note that the editorial board of The Washington Post has endorsed a candidate for almost every presidential election since it endorsed Jimmy Carter in 1976. In 2013, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the news outlet.

More from United States Of America

From father's advice to pastor's call: How Charlie Kirk's shooter Tyler Robinson was turned in to police Charlie Kirk: Killer still at large, motive uncertain; FBI releases photo with $100,000 reward

Why is The Washington Post not endorsing a presidential candidate?

In his statement on the matter, Lewis emphasised that the newspaper is going back to its roots, recalling the times when the editorial board chose not to endorse presidential candidates.

“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility,” Lewis said. “That is inevitable,” he said, adding: “We don’t see it that way.”

Rather, Lewis maintained that the decision is “consistent with the values” the newspaper has stood for, and what the newspaper hoped 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”.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

As Trump weaponises tariff, Fed sees a bigger worry: Not jobs, but rising prices in America

Despite a backdown deal, Trump deploys hundreds more National Guard troops in Washington DC

“Our job at The Washington Post is to provide through the newsroom non-partisan news for all Americans, and thought-provoking, reported views from our opinion team to help our readers make up their own minds,” he said, adding: “Most of all, our job as the newspaper of the capital city of the most important country in the world is to be independent.”

The outrage that followed

Shortly after the statement was published, several reports suggested that The Washington Post staffers were not happy with the decision. A senior Post staffer told The Guardian, on condition of anonymity that “The Post’s editorial board just won a Pulitzer Prize for calling out authoritarianism and defending democracy around the world” adding, “How sad is it that we can’t do that at home?”

“There’s a lot of sadness and frustration among staff,” they added. “Most of all, it feels like a blow to WaPo’s long tradition of courageous coverage.” Meanwhile, The Washington Post Guild, the union that represents many of the paper’s staffers, released a separate statement stating that it was “deeply concerned” by the move.

2/ "The role of an Editorial Board is to do just this: to share opinions on the news impacting our society and culture and endorse candidates to help guide readers [...]"

— Washington Post Guild (@PostGuild) October 25, 2024

“The role of an editorial board is to do just this: to share opinions on the news impacting our society and culture and endorse candidates to help guide readers,” it added. The Guild maintained that according to the paper’s reporters, the endorsement of Harris was already drafted and the decision not to publish it was made by Bezos himself.

Marty Baron, the former executive editor of The Washington Post, criticized the newspaper’s decision, calling it “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty”. Susan Rice, the former US ambassador to the United Nations and former domestic policy adviser for the Biden administration, went on to call the move “hypocritical”

“So much for ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’,” she said, referring to the newspaper’s official slogan, adopted in 2017 under Bezos’s ownership. “This is the most hypocritical, chicken-shit move from a publication that is supposed to hold people in power to account,” she added.

With inputs from agencies.