‘Democracy Dies In Darkness’: ‘Washington Post’ Rebuked for Killing Harris Endorsement
Celebrated newspaper said to have betrayed its journalistic values
The Washington Post, one of the nation’s most-celebrated newspapers since it broke the Watergate scandal which brought down President Richard Nixon, is being roundly condemned as its current owner axed the Post’s planned endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
The newspaper, purchased by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2013, announced Friday that it would decline to endorse a candidate in the coming presidential election.
The Post’s editorial page is abstaining from a presidential endorsement for the first time in 36 years.
The paper’s decision was revealed in a a column published on The Post’s website Friday, by publisher and CEO William Lewis.
Robert Kagan, a longtime Post columnist and editor-at-large in the opinion department, resigned in protest, and a group of 11 Washington Post columnists co-signed an article condemning the decision.
An endorsement of Harris had been drafted by Post editorial page staffers but had yet to be published, according to a separate news article published by the newspaper.
The decision to spike the Harris endorsement reportedly came from Bezos himself.
It’s the second time this week a billionaire newspaper owner killed a planned Harris endorsement.
Patrick Soon-Shiong, the wealthy owner of the Los Angeles Times, blocked that paper’s planned endorsement, prompting the resignation of the newspaper’s editorials editor.
Daniel Pearson, an editorial writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, mocked The Washington Post’s decision.
The Inquirer already published its endorsement of the Democratic nominee for president.
“Unlike some newspaper Editorial Boards, we aren’t afraid to take a stand, and we don’t have to get permission from rich schmucks before we write,” Pearson posted on his personal social media account.
Nicolle Wallace, the popular host on the MSNBC cable network, skewered The Post’s decision by noting its heroic newspaper slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”
Although “their reporters embody that slogan through their reporting,” Wallace reported the paper’s “stunning decision” not to endorse Harris.
Larry Sabato, a well-respected political analyst and prognosticator at the University of Virginia, went even further mocking The Post.
“It certainly doesn’t matter to voters. Look, the Washington Post endorsement or the L.A. Times endorsement, if it affects 10 people for president, I’d be surprised. Endorsements do matter for local races because people really don’t know the names and the issues. But for president, this is a joke,” Sabato said. “It doesn’t affect the voters, but I’ll tell you what it does affect, is the reputation of the institution. And the former executive editor Martin Baron had some very interesting comments on Twitter. Some people call it X, I call it Twitter. About Martin Baron, about The Washington Post, because he went after the Post like crazy.
“And remember what their slogan was, Katy?” he asked, speaking with MSNBC host Katy Tur. “‘Democracy dies in darkness.’ Boy, that’s a good one. Talk about irony. ‘Democracy dies in darkness.’
“And so they decided to go dark for the rest of the campaign, at least editorially. A lot of courage out there these days. Loads of courage,” Sabato added.
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