The Washington Publish resolution to not endorse any candidate within the 2024 presidential elections Not solely has it sparked outrage amongst its present and former workers, it has additionally sparked a wave of subscription cancellations. Inside 24 hours of the newspaper’s writer saying his resolution, the primary in 36 years, greater than 2,000 subscribers canceled their subscriptions, indicating the extent of reader fury.
On Saturday morning, “Democracy dies in darkness,” the paper’s official motto, and “WaPo” have been trending on X. Notable individuals who canceled their Washington Publish subscriptions embrace creator Stephen King and actor from Star Trek, George Takei.
“After 5 years, I canceled my subscription to the Washington Publish,” tweeted Stephen King, a frequent critic of Republican presidential candidate Trump. Whereas King didn’t present a purpose for the choice, he later shared a publish criticizing the US newspaper’s resolution to not endorse a candidate.
George Takei additionally referred to as to “keep away” from Amazon and instantly attacked Jeff Bezos, the billionaire proprietor of the newspaper. Bezos additionally based the e-commerce platform Amazon.
“If Jeff Bezos cowers within the face of energy, we customers ought to present him ours by staying away from Amazon through the election,” Takei stated.
WHAT IS THE WASHINGTON POST CONTROVERSY?
On Friday, Will Lewis, editor of the Washington Publish, introduced that the newspaper’s editorial board wouldn’t endorse any candidate on this 12 months’s presidential election. What sparked the backlash, nevertheless, was a newspaper report, citing sources, that Jeff Bezos took the decision.
In actual fact, sources additionally stated that the newspaper’s editorial web page staff had drafted a endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Nonetheless, the draft was by no means offered to the newspaper’s board of administrators.
Many subscribers took to social media and accused Bezos of prioritizing his enterprise agenda. Many commentators noticed it as a betrayal of Publish readers.
Robert Kagan, the Publish’s opinion editor-at-large, additionally resigned in protest following the announcement. “That is clearly an effort by Jeff Bezos to curry favor with Donald Trump in anticipation of his attainable victory,” Robert Kagan informed CNN.
Washington Publish columnist Karen Attiah referred to as the choice an “absolute stab within the again.”
The union representing Washington Publish journalists stated it was “deeply involved” by the choice “particularly simply 11 days earlier than an immensely consequential election,” The Guardian reported.
Whereas Bezos has not commented on the controversy, critics have speculated that the choice may come up from Trump’s previous criticism of Bezos and Amazon, given the corporate’s reliance on authorities contracts.