Former Washington Post editor Robert Kagan accuses Jeff Bezos of blocking a deliberate endorsement of 1 the operating Presidential candidates to favour one other.
Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, Kamala Harris
Former Washington Post editor Robert Kagan resigned on Friday following a controversial choice by the newspaper to withhold its deliberate endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Kagan accused the paper’s billionaire proprietor, Jeff Bezos, of putting a secret deal with former President Donald Trump, resulting in the choice to drop the endorsement. The state of affairs echoed an identical stance taken by one other main publication, The Los Angeles Times, which additionally selected to not endorse Harris, sparking controversy and a number of other employees resignations.
Kagan alleged that Bezos, who owns The Washington Post and Amazon, took motion to dam the endorsement to remain in Trump’s good graces, doubtlessly influencing the election final result. Kagan pointed to a gathering between Trump and executives from Bezos’s area enterprise, Blue Origin, which he claims performed a task in the choice. The outcome was The Washington Post turning into the second main newspaper this yr to decide on to not endorse a candidate, a transfer that drew backlash from readers and journalists. In simply 24 hours after the announcement, 2,000 readers canceled their subscriptions, reflecting dissatisfaction with the paper’s stance.
The former editor-at-large, identified for being a vocal critic of Trump, advised that there was a “quid pro quo” association, that means Bezos or his representatives communicated straight with Trump to strike a deal. Kagan claimed this alleged association had been in growth for a while. However, neither Bezos nor Trump has responded to those allegations.
Amid the controversy, Washington Post CEO William Lewis stepped in to make clear that the choice to not endorse any candidate was his alone, not Bezos’s. Lewis said that he had introduced earlier that the newspaper would not publish presidential endorsements, in line with his perception that an unbiased newspaper ought to enable readers to type their very own opinions with out affect. According to Lewis, Bezos didn’t evaluate or give any enter on the endorsement draft.
The choice led to important criticism from the employees, with some workers expressing emotions of betrayal. Columnist Karen Attiah, who resigned following the announcement, voiced her frustration on social media, saying, “I didn’t sign up to be a journalist to be silent on what matters most. We were betrayed today.” Her feedback mirrored the rising discontent throughout the newsroom, the place many believed the endorsement was being delayed whereas awaiting approval from Bezos and Lewis, solely to be in the end scrapped.
The state of affairs has raised issues about potential media censorship and editorial independence, with Kagan warning that the alleged collusion between Bezos and Trump may sign a troubling development for the way forward for journalism.
