The Bezos-Washington Post crisis is getting worse

Reports suggest Jeff Bezos made the decision not to endorse a candidate.

The Washington Post’s decision not to endorse a candidate in the presidential election may have cost it hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

More than 200,000 people have canceled their Post subscriptions since Friday, NPR’s David Folkenflik reported Monday, citing two knowledgeable sources.

It’s not unusual for people to cancel news subscriptions over controversial content or decisions, but such protests are rarely significant or long-lasting.

In the case of the Post, the reported numbers represent about 8% of its paid circulation of 2.5 million print and digital subscribers.

That would be a significant setback for Will Lewis, the Post’s president and CEO, who recently trumpeted that the paper was growing digital subs for the first time since 2021. A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment.

Jeff Bezos, the Washington Post’s owner since 2013, explained the decision in an opinion column published Monday.

He said most people believe the media is biased and presidential endorsements don’t help. “What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence,” he wrote. “Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”

Lewis, who is nearing his first year in the role, said in May that the Post lost $77 million in the previous year and had been losing digital readers for years. “To speak candidly: We are in a hole, and we have been for some time,” he told employees at the time.

The newsroom is also now grappling with some staff protests and resignations. David Hoffman, who last week accepted a Pulitzer Prize, has quit the editorial board, according to a resignation note shared on X. Molly Roberts, an editorial writer, posted to X over the weekend that she quit. Columnist Michele Norris and editor at large Robert Kagan have left the paper. Nineteen opinion columnists signed a column protesting the decision.

The decision has stoked fears that news outlets are censoring themselves in fear of former President Donald Trump, who has publicly called for revenge against his enemies. The Los Angeles Times endorsed statewide candidates but declined to endorse a presidential candidate this year, prompting three staff resignations.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Bezos voiced reservations in late September about running an endorsement.

The Times also reported that the Post’s opinion editor, David Shipley, told staffers Monday he had “tried hard to dissuade Mr. Bezos” and that Shipley “did not explain what rationale, if any, Mr. Bezos gave for his decision.”

The Post had previously shared a statement from Lewis calling reporting around Bezos’ role in the situation inaccurate, saying: “He was not sent, did not read and did not opine on any draft. As Publisher, I do not believe in presidential endorsements. We are an independent newspaper and should support our readers’ ability to make up their own minds.”