Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent
Image source, EPAImage caption,
Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013
What do the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have in common? Both are major American newspapers that have recently announced they would not be endorsing a candidate for president this year.
Both are also owned by billionaires – medical executive and investor Patrick Soon-Shiong in Los Angeles and Amazon head Jeff Bezos in Washington.
Soon-Shiong has acknowledged direct involvement in the editorial process that led to his paper’s decision not to endorse. There are unconfirmed reports that Bezos stepped in with the Washington Post, as well.
Both papers, it is also reported, were preparing to endorse Democrat Kamala Harris.
While senior leaders in both papers have said that the decision to break with longstanding tradition is not a judgement on the relative fitness and qualifications of the two candidates, many journalists and those on the left aren’t seeing it that way – particularly given that the announcements have come so close to election day.
Instead, they are accusing the papers of bending to the political – and corporate – interests of their deep-pocketed owners.
The Post’s publisher, William Lewis, explained that the paper would allow readers to “make up their own minds” – although he did not say why it would continue to endorse candidates for other political offices.
Newspapers – which used to dominate the American media landscape – have seen the influence of their editorials decline over recent years, along with their circulation and readership.
It is ironic, then, that the decisions not to endorse will probably generate more attention for the two papers, negative and positive, than any recent editorial they have published.
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Publish date : 2024-10-25 18:39:00
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