Washington Post reports that owner Jeff Bezos stopped it from endorsing Kamala Harris
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- The Washington Post won't endorse a presidential candidate in 2024.
- Former executive editor Marty Baron called the decision "a moment of darkness," per NPR.
- Sources told The Washington Post that the paper's owner, Jeff Bezos, made the decision.
The Washington Post said Friday it won't endorse a candidate in the 2024 election — or in any future presidential races.
Status reported earlier this week that the paper, owned by Jeff Bezos, had yet to make an endorsement, prompting questions internally.
In a note to readers Friday, the Post's publisher and CEO, William Lewis, confirmed the paper was "returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates."
Lewis wrote that with one exception, in 1952, the Post did not endorse presidential candidates before the 1976 election when it endorsed Jimmy Carter, but he acknowledged the paper's decision could face blowback.
"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 wrote.
But he said the paper ultimately wants readers to make up their own minds — aided by its "nonpartisan news" and "reported views from our opinion team."
Later on Friday, The Washington Post, citing two sources briefed on the decision, reported that Bezos made the call not to publish an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, which had already been drafted by editorial staffers.
NPR reported that members of the Post newsroom were upset by the decision. Marty Baron, the paper's former executive editor, called it "a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty."
"Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post's owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners)," Baron told NPR.
Bezos has lucrative contracts in play with the government. Earlier this year, for instance, NASA awarded a $172 million grant to a joint venture between Bezos' Blue Origin space company and Sierra Space to construct a new station.
Amazon has also been a leading recipient of billions in government spending on cloud computing and commercial goods.
The Post isn't the only paper reckoning with endorsements this year. Semafor reported Tuesday that the Los Angeles Times' owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, stopped the paper from making a presidential endorsement, leading to the resignation of its editorials chief, Mariel Garza.
The Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.