The Washington Post Building at One Franklin Square on June 5, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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washington post The site has reportedly lost more than 200,000 digital subscriptions and its editorial board has lost support after deciding not to endorse a candidate in the presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Three members of the company also resigned.
The Washington Post quoted two sources with knowledge of internal affairs as saying, NPRDavid Folkenflik reported on Monday that the newspaper’s paid circulation among its 2.5 million paid subscribers, which includes the print edition, has dropped by about 8% since Friday’s announcement that it would no longer support the paper.
Molly Roberts, David Hoffman and Mili Mitra have resigned from the paper over controversial decisions regarding endorsements, according to public statements and newspapers. members of the editorial board, but they remain on the paper’s staff.
That’s the same number of people who resigned from editorial boards. Los Angeles Times” The board of directors protested the newspaper’s decision not to endorse the presidential candidate.
A Washington Post spokesman declined to comment on the loss of subscriptions or the resignation of the editorial board when contacted by CNBC on Monday.
Also on Monday, USA Today said it would not endorse a presidential candidate this year. this GannettThe Wall Street Journal, one of the nation’s largest newspapers by circulation, broke with a longstanding tradition of not endorsing presidential candidates in 2020, urging readers to choose President Biden over Trump.
But The Washington Post has supported presidential candidates for decades.
Will Lewis, publisher and chief executive of The Washington Post, said he has decided to break with the paper’s tradition and will not endorse a presidential candidate in this year or any future election.
But a report in The Post on Friday quoted four people briefed on the decision as saying that the Post’s owner, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos has decided to no longer endorse the president.
The newspaper denied the claim.
The paper’s editorial page had planned to endorse Democratic candidate Harris, according to the paper’s own reporting.
Roberts announced her resignation from the editorial board in a letter to Post editor David Shipley, writing: “I object to silence in the face of dictatorships. Here, there, everywhere.”
She also released a statement online. “To be very clear, the decision not to support this election was not the editorial board’s,” Roberts wrote. “This is (you can read the report) Jeff Bezos.”
“I am resigning from the Washington Post editorial board because the need to support Kamala Harris over Donald Trump is morally obvious. Worse, our silence is precisely what Donald Trump What Pu wants: silence for the media, for us.”
“Reports about the role of The Washington Post’s owner and the decision not to publish the presidential endorsement are inaccurate,” Lewis said in a statement Saturday.
“He was not sent, read or commented on any draft,” Lewis said. “As a publisher, I do not trust the president’s endorsement. We are an independent newspaper and should support readers in making their own decisions.”
“While USA TODAY will not endorse a presidential campaign, local editors of USA TODAY online publications have the authority to campaign in state or There is support for the president at the local level.
“Many people are deciding not to support individual candidates but to support key local and state issues on the ballot that impact their communities,” Anton said. “Why are we doing this? Because we believe America’s future is determined locally — One game at a time. Through more than 200 publications across the country, our public service is providing readers with the facts that matter and the trusted information they need to make informed decisions.
The Daily Beast previously reported USA Today’s decision.
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