Bezos Defends Washington Post’s Decision Not To Endorse Harris

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos defended the newspaper’s decision not to endorse a U.S. presidential candidate after reports surfaced that more than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions in response, slamming Bezos for being fearful of Donald Trump, Reuters reported.

Following Bezos' decision, two of the newspaper’s columnists resigned, along with three of the nine members of its editorial board. I Illustration: DonkeyHotey Flickr

The decision blocked an endorsement of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a report by National Public Radio (NPR).

Many critics on the newspaper's website attacked Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon.com and rocket company Blue Origin. In an opinion piece late Monday, Bezos argued that "most people believe the media is biased" and that newspapers, including

The Washington Post, needed to improve its credibility. A loss of that many subscribers would be a significant blow to the esteemed news outlet, which has already been facing financial challenges.

Last year, the Post had more than 2.5 million subscribers, most of them digital, making it the third-largest U.S. newspaper by circulation behind The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, according to David Bauder of the Associated Press (AP).

Following the decision, two of the newspaper’s columnists resigned, along with three of the nine members of its editorial board.

The Post’s former editor, Martin Baron, who was in charge when Bezos bought the paper, criticized the decision on social media, calling it “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”