Washington Post Has Lost 250K Subscribers, LA Times 18,000 Since Owners Axed Kamala Harris Endorsements

The Washington Post’s has lost more than 250,000 subscribers, at least 50,000 of which bolted in the last 24 hours, since owner Jeff Bezos’s supiciously timed decision to kill the paper’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris, NPR reported Tuesday.

And the Los Angeles Times has lost approximately 18,000 subscribers since owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, with similarly suspicious timing, canceled that paper’s planned endorsement of Harris, Semafor reported.

That amounts to approximately 10% of WaPo’s paying customers. And while the Los Angeles Times hasn’t been hit quite as hard as the Post, it has still lost approximately 4.5% of paying customers.

It’s the latest bad news for two media giants plunged into existential crises by billionaire 0wners that show no signs of slowing down.

In Los Angeles, after Soon-Shiong vetoed the Harris endorsement, as well as a series laying out the case against Donald Trump, at least three high profile editorial writers resigned in protest, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Greene. The Times newsroom guild has also called the matter out, as did more than 200 staffers in an open letter published Friday.

Initially, Soon-Shiong falsely blamed the LA Times editorial board for canceling the decision. After being called out as a liar by several former employees, he defended the move in a softball interview conducted by a Times reporter that was notable for avoiding any acknowledgement of the substance of criticism. Meanwhile, his daughter has also thrown gasoline on this fire with repeated claims, which the billionaire himself says are false, that the matter is somehow a statement on the Gaza war.

In D.C., WaPo has been hit by its own exodus of high profile talent, while some of its biggest luminaries, including Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, are bitterly criticizing leadership, as well as Bezos himself.

Bezos defended himself Monday in an obtuse op-ed where he cited the growing lack of trust Americans have in media for the decision that has, quite literally, cratered reader trust in Washington Post. He also appeared to suggest some kind of agreement with right wing conspiracy theories about voting machines, denied his other businesses and business interests influenced the decision, and then denied that endorsements even matter.

If his intent was to quell the crisis, he failed. Among other things, “The Wire” creator David Simon, himself a former reporter, canceled his Washington Post subscription as a direct result of Bezos’ Op-Ed.

I wasn’t going to join 200,000 others and cancel my subscription because doing so won’t hurt Bezos — he paid more for his yachts than his newspaper — and, yes, the Post newsroom where good people, and some friends still labor continues providing meaningful journalism,” Simon wrote in part. “But, my god, this man’s insipid defense of his own transparent cowardice is provoking.”

Simon indicated he would re-subscribe if Bezos “ever releases his grip on what needs to be an independent newsroom and editorial board… But this kind of abuse of a public trust by a publisher is unacceptable.”

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