Billionaire Jeff Bezos explains why Washington Post is neutral in US elections

(Dan Tri) - Mr. Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, explained why this newspaper, for the first time in 30 years, did not support any candidate in this year's US election.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos dropped to the third richest person in the world when Amazon's stock plummeted, causing him to lose $20 billion in just one day (Photo: Bloomberg).

The Washington Post has abandoned its decades-long tradition of endorsing US presidential candidates to regain the trust of the American public, billionaire Jeff Bezos said. The Washington Post editorial board has endorsed presidential candidates in almost every presidential election since it backed Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976. The last time the Washington Post did not endorse a presidential candidate was in 1988. In the previous two elections, the US newspaper endorsed Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. However, late last week, the Washington Post announced that it would not endorse any candidate. According to CNN, the newspaper's staff reportedly drafted an endorsement of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris but was ultimately rejected by the board. Mr. Bezos published a post explaining his decision. He cited a recent Gallup poll that found that nearly 70% of Americans no longer trust the media. "Journalism is a profession that is not trusted (in the US)," he said, adding that "most people believe that the media is biased" and not neutral. He said that the Post's endorsement of candidates did not affect the outcome of the election, but it did create the impression that the paper was not neutral, so ending this long-standing tradition was "the right thing to do." Mr. Bezos' decision has upset many journalists at the Post. A total of 21 of the paper's columnists signed a statement calling it a "terrible mistake" for the Post not to endorse a candidate. They argued that "this is not the right time, when a candidate is supporting views that directly threaten the freedom of the press and the values ​​of the Constitution." Three of the paper's 10 editorial board members have resigned. According to NPR, more than 200,000 people, or about 8% of the Washington Post's paid subscribers, canceled their subscriptions. Mr. Bezos acknowledged that the Washington Post's decision to be neutral was not well thought out, but he insisted that no campaign influenced his decision-making process.

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