Publisher and CEO Will Lewis says so Washington Post“is a return to our roots of rejecting presidential candidates,” although the last time she abstained from voting in a general election was in 1988.

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Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Even though the presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is neck-and-neck, The Washington Post has decided not to issue a presidential recommendation for the first time in 36 years, the publisher and CEO announced Friday.

“We are returning to our roots of opposing presidential candidates,” wrote Will Lewis in an opinion piece published on the newspaper’s website. He referred to the newspaper’s policies in the decades before 1976, when after the Watergate scandal the post When it went bankrupt, it supported Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter. The last time post The country did not support a presidential candidate in the 1988 general election, according to a search of its archives.

Colleagues learned the news from editorial page editor David Shipley at a tense meeting shortly before Lewis’ announcement. The meeting was characterized by allowing two people with direct knowledge of the discussions to speak about internal matters on condition of anonymity.

According to three people with direct knowledge, Shipley agreed to an editorial recommendation for Harris that was prepared earlier this month. He told his colleagues that the decision to endorse it was being reviewed by the newspaper’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos. This is the owner’s prerogative and common practice.

On Friday, Shipley said he told other newsroom managers on Thursday that management had decided there would be no endorsement, even though Shipley had known about the decision for some time. He added that he “owns” this result. The reason he cited was to create an “independent space” in which the newspaper does not tell people who to vote for.

It was said that colleagues were “shocked” and consistently negative. Editor-in-Chief Robert Kagan, who criticized Trump as autocratic, told NPR he resigned from the editorial board as a result.

Former Washington Post Editor-in-Chief Martin Baron, who gave the newsroom widespread recognition during Trump’s presidency, strongly condemned the decision.

“This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that sacrifices democracy,” Baron said in a statement to NPR. “Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate Post owner Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). History will mark a disturbing chapter in the spinelessness of an institution known for its courage.”

The Washington Post Guild, which represents newsroom staff and other employees, published on

“We are already seeing cancellations from once-loyal readers,” the statement said.

The excitement broke out on Friday afternoon Washington Post According to internal correspondence reviewed by NPR, its chief tech officer instructed engineers to block questions about his decision about the paper’s own AI site search.

post Company spokespeople declined to comment beyond Lewis’ statement to readers.

Trump often targets news outlets

A similar decision by Los Angeles Times Owner Patrick Soon-Shiong led to the resignation of the newspaper’s editor and two members of its editorial board this week. Soon-Shiong said he asked the editorial board to write a “factual analysis” of Trump and Harris’ policies and plans. In her resignation letter, editorial editor Mariel Garza said the decision made the newspaper appear “cowardly and hypocritical” given its past reporting and editorials about Trump.

The postThe investigative team has regularly reported on misconduct and allegations of illegality by former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee and his associates. The editorial board, which operates independently of the newsroom, has repeatedly said that Trump’s conduct in office and his rhetoric as a candidate made him unfit for office.

It won a Pulitzer Prize for investigating what Trump did in January 2021 to encourage his supporters to deny the formal certification of President Biden’s election.

During the election campaign, Trump threatened to take revenge on journalists and the media if he won the presidency again.

In particular, he has promised to jail reporters who refuse to identify the source of government leaks and to revoke the broadcast licenses of three major television networks. (Only local television stations are actually licensed by federal regulators, not the networks themselves. But the three networks collectively own 80 local television stations.)

Book: Bezos thought differently in 2016

The possibility that the post could withhold a recommendation was first reported in Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter. Even before Friday’s announcement, the possible lack of an editorial caused consternation among journalists postwho see it as a major American publication that has to speak out on the most pressing issue of the day.

post Owner Bezos, the Amazon founder and one of the richest people in the world, has major contracts with the federal government in his other business areas, with billions of dollars in impact on Amazon’s shipping business and cloud computing services, as well as on its space company Blue Origin.

Bezos brought in Lewis, who has significant conservative beliefs, as publisher and CEO in January. Lewis held the same role with Rupert Murdoch Wall Street Journal; served as editor of the London-based magazine telegraphwhich is closely linked to the Tory Party; and was an advisor to Conservative Boris Johnson when he was British Prime Minister.

Colleagues told NPR that Bezos chose Lewis in part for his ability to get along with powerful conservative figures, including Murdoch.

In his memoirs Collision of powerBaron wrote that then-publisher Fred Ryan did not want to support the 2016 race between Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The editorial page editor at the time, Fred Hiatt, was considering resigning. Bezos’ response at the time: “Why shouldn’t we make a recommendation?”