Mastodawn

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

Wrong effing year to do this. “#democracy dies in darkness” huh?

WaPo’s chief exec told the newsroom on Fri that it would no longer endorse presidential candidates, breaking w/decades of precedent at the newspaper.

“The #WashingtonPost will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election,” wrote #WillLewis, The Post’s chief exec. “Nor in any future presidential #election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/business/media/washington-post-presidential-endorsement.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Washington Post Says It Won’t Endorse a Presidential Candidate

The decision was made by Jeff Bezos, the paper’s owner, according to a person with knowledge of the talks. Will Lewis, the chief executive, said the paper was “returning to our roots” of not making endorsements for the office.

The New York Times

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

Questions about whether The #WashingtonPost would endorse a candidate…have spread for days. Some people have speculated…that the paper’s #billionaire owner, #JeffBezos, was being cowed by a prospective #Trump admin because his other businesses have many federal government contracts.

Lewis, in his note to the staff, said little about how #WaPo arrived at its decision, adding only that it was not “a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another.”

#democracy #FourthEstate

The #WashingtonPost’s editorial writers had already drafted an #endorsement of VP #KamalaHarris for president….

#WaPo’s editorial board had contacted the #Harris campaign & the #Trump campaign to request interviews ahead of its decision to endorse…. Harris declined the interview & the Trump campaign didn’t respond….

WaPo’s decision drew immediate blowback on social media, including from #MartyBaron, the recent editor of WaPo who led the paper through a period of editorial & business success.

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

“This is #cowardice, w/ #democracy as its casualty,” #MartyBaron said in a post…. He added that #Trump would see it as an invitation to continue to try to intimidate #JeffBezos. “Disturbing #spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”

#WaPo’s move follows unfurling tumult at The #LATimes, where the head of the editorial board & 2 of its writers have resigned this week to protest the decision by the owner, the #billionaire #PatrickSoonShiong, to block a planned presidential #endorsement.

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

…The #NewYorkTimes’ editorial board, which operates separately from the newsroom, endorsed #KamalaHarris for president on Sept 30, saying: “It is hard to imagine a candidate more #unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald #Trump.” But in August, it said it would stop endorsing candidates in #NY elections, including the #NYC mayoral race.

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #WashingtonPost #WaPo #LATimes

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

And straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak:

“An #endorsement of #KamalaHarris had been drafted by The #WashingtonPost editorial page staffers but had yet to be published, acc/to 2 sources briefed on the sequence of events who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The decision not to publish was made by #WaPo’s owner — #Amazon founder #JeffBezos — acc/to the same sources.”

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/10/25/washington-post-endorsement-president/

The Washington Post says it will not endorse a candidate for president

The Washington Post’s publisher announced Friday that it will not make an endorsement in this year’s presidential contest, for the first time in 36 years, or in future presidential races.

The Washington Post

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

“This is #cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave #democracy as a casualty. Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post’s owner, #JeffBezos (& other media owners),” former Post executive editor #MartyBaron, who led the paper while #Trump was president, said in a text message to The Post. “History will mark a disturbing chapter of #spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #WashingtonPost #WaPo

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

In a column published on The #WashingtonPost’s website Friday, #WaPo Publisher #WilliamLewis described the decision as a return to the newspaper’s roots of non-endorsement.

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/25/washington-post-endorsement/

On political endorsement

A note from the publisher:

The Washington Post

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

The decision has roiled many on the #editorial staff, which operates independently from The #WashingtonPost’s news staff, a long-standing tradition of American #journalism designed to separate opinion writing from day-to-day #news coverage.

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #WashingtonPost

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

More on The #WashingtonPost’s #acquiescence from NPR:

Colleagues learned the news from the #editorial page editor, #DavidShipley, at a tense meeting shortly before #WillLewis' announcement. The meeting was characterized by 2 people w/direct knowledge of discussions….

Shipley had approved an #editorial #endorsement for #KamalaHarris that was being drafted earlier this month, acc/to 3 people w/direct knowledge.

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #WaPo
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/25/nx-s1-5165353/washington-post-presidential-endorsement-trump-harris

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

Shipley told colleagues the decision to endorse was being reviewed by the paper's #billionaire owner, #JeffBezos. That's the owner's prerogative & common practice.
On Fri, Shipley said that he told other #editorial board leaders on Thurs that mgmt had decided there would be no #endorsement, though Shipley had known about the decision for a while. He added that he "owns" this outcome. The reason he cited was to create "independent space" where the newspaper does not tell people for whom to #vote.

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

Colleagues were said to be "shocked" & uniformly negative. Editor-at-large #RobertKagan, who has been highly critical of #Trump as #autocratic, told NPR he had #resigned from the #EditorialBoard as a consequence.

Fmr #WashingtonPost Executive Editor Martin Baron, who led the newsroom to acclaim during #Trump's presidency, denounced the decision starkly.

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #acquiescence #WaPo

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

The #WashingtonPost Guild, which reps newsroom employees & other staff, posted a msg on X saying it was concerned about mgmt's #interference in the #journalism, considering that the #editorial board already had drafted a stmnt of support for #Harris.

"We are already seeing cancellations from once loyal readers” it said.

On Fri afternoon, furor at #WaPo was such that its chief tech officer directed engineers to block questions about its decision on the paper's own AI site search…

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

…The #WashingtonPost's investigative team has routinely reported on wrongdoing & allegations of illegality by #Trump …& his associates. The #EditorialBoard, which is operated apart from the newsroom, has repeatedly declared that Trump's actions in office & his rhetoric as a candidate have rendered him #unfit for office.

#WaPo earned a #PulitzerPrize for its examination of what Trump did in Jan 2021 to encourage his supporters to deny the formal #certification of President #Biden's #election.

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

On the campaign trail, #Trump has threatened to exact #vengeance on #journalists & #media outlets should he win the presidency once more.

In particular, he has promised to #jail #reporters who won't identify the source of government #leaks & to strip 3 big TV networks of their licenses to broadcast. (Only local TV stations are actually licensed by federal regulators, not the networks themselves. But the 3 networks own 80 local TV stations between them.)

#democracy #FourthEstate #WashingtonPost

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

…Even before Fri's announcement, the potential lack of an #editorial drew consternation from #journalists w/in the #WashingtonPost, who see it as a major American publication that needs to weigh in on the most pressing issue of the day.

WaPo owner #Bezos, Amazon founder & one of the world's richest people, has major contracts before the federal govt in his other businesses, w/ #billion-dollar implications affecting Amazon's shipping & cloud computing services as well as his BlueOrigin space co.

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

#Bezos brought in #WillLewis, who has significant *conservative* bonafides, as publisher & CEO in January. Lewis held the same role at #RupertMurdoch's #WSJ; served as the editor of the London-based #Telegraph, which is closely allied w/the #Tory party; & was a consultant to Conservative #BorisJohnson when Johnson was UK PM.

Colleagues have told NPR that Bezos selected Lewis in part for his ability to get along w/powerful conservative figures, including Murdoch.

#FourthEstate #WashingtonPost

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

In his memoir, Collision of Power, Baron wrote that then-Publisher Fred Ryan did not want to make an #endorsement in the 2016 race pitting #Trump against former Secretary of State #HillaryClinton.

Then-#Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt considered resigning. #Bezos's reply at the time: "Why wouldn't we make an endorsement?"

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #acquiescence #WaPo #WashingtonPost

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

And from #Mediaite:

#WashingtonPost editor-at-large #RobertKagan resigned on Friday over the newspaper’s decision not to endorse #KamalaHarris.

While a number of staff are reportedly angry & considering exiting the paper over the decision, Kagan’s resignation is particularly notable not just because of his standing at the publication, but because of his ties to #Republican #politics.

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #acquiescence #WaPo
https://www.mediaite.com/news/washington-post-editor-at-large-robert-kagan-resigns-over-papers-decision-not-to-endorse-kamala-harris/

Washington Post Editor-at-Large Robert Kagan Resigns Over Paper’s Decision Not to Endorse Kamala Harris

Washington Post editor-at-large Robert Kagan resigned on Friday over the newspaper's decision not to endorse Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Mediaite

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

Kagan served as a speechwriter for Secy of State #GeorgeShultz during the #Reagan admin & as an advisor to Sen #JohnMcCain during his 2008 presidential campaign.

In 2016, he left the #Republican party over its nomination of #Trump as its standard bearer & endorsed #HillaryClinton. In Nov 2023, he published an expansive column in the #WashingtonPost under the headline “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.”

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #acquiescence

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

My #WashingtonPost #LetterToTheEditor (pic) regarding their decision to “not endorse” a presidential candidate in #Election2024.

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #acquiescence #WaPo
https://thewashingtonpost.formstack.com/forms/submit_a_letter_to_the_editor

Submit a Letter to the editor - Formstack

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

Top #Editors Eviscerate #JeffBezos’ Decision to Kill #WaPo Endorsement

David Maraniss, an associate editor at The #WashingtonPost – whose coverage of Bill Clinton at the paper won him the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting – has spoken for many in The Post’s newsroom over #Bezos’ decision to kill an #endorsement of #KamalaHarris for president.

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #acquiescence
https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-editors-eviscerate-jeff-bezos-decision-to-kill-washington-post-kamala-harris-endorsement/

Top Editors Eviscerate Jeff Bezos’ Decision to Kill WaPo Endorsement

Leading reporters and former editors speak out after Bezos quashed a Harris endorsement drafted by “Post” writers.

The Daily Beast

Nonilex Oct 25, 2024

Maraniss, who also served as The #WashingtonPost’s lead reporter during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, has provided an excoriating statement to the Daily Beast after #JeffBezos’ decision was confirmed by #WillLewis, the paper’s disempowered CEO.

Two sources told #WaPo’s reporters that #Bezos personally rejected an #endorsement of #KamalaHarris drafted by the paper’s editorial page staffers.

#democracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #acquiescence

Seth is Pissed Oct 25, 2024

@Nonilex Fuck Bezos

ChefRaven Oct 26, 2024

@Nonilex This is super important and I’m glad they’re speaking out but the bottom line is Bezos doesn’t give a flying fig newton.

JB Oct 26, 2024

@Nonilex #Bezos announced his disregard for journalism when he hired #Murdoch attack dog Will Lewis.

Guys like Bezos are rewiring America's DNA from the pursuit of truth, equal justice, and a more perfect union to the creation of a wealthier Jeff Bezos.

#washingtonpost #corruption #media #voteblue #kamalaharris

Charles J Gervasi ⚡🛡️🥥Oct 26, 2024

@Nonilex Where can we follow #RobertKagan?

Bruce Mirken Oct 25, 2024

@Nonilex The #BrokenPost is unsalvageable.

aardvark Oct 26, 2024

@Nonilex posting on Putin’s social media? Are they that clueless?

lolonurse Oct 25, 2024

@Nonilex
In my opinion, in this case, it's disingenuous and irresponsible not to print truths. If they did that, and no pandering, the message would be loud and clear.

JJ Krawczyk Oct 26, 2024

@Nonilex
Time to cancel my subscription

JB Oct 25, 2024

@Nonilex Lewis’ explanation about scuttling the #kamalaharris endorsement is bullshit.

Bezos’ weak-assed capitulation to Trump is beyond words. The worst is yet to come unless you and yours #voteblue

Derekodon Oct 25, 2024

@Nonilex Democracy dies in Billionaire Darkness…

Fan of Shared Truth & Empathy Oct 25, 2024

@Nonilex Democracy dies right there out in the open where everyone can see the Citizens United ownership covering their ass in a terminated constitution no first amendment transactional autocratic theocracy.

#Cowardice
#Appeasement
#CapitalisimForFascists

Kinene⭐🐻Oct 25, 2024

@Nonilex Cowards, every single one.

JonChevreau 🇨🇦Oct 25, 2024

@c_merriweather @Nonilex Darkness & Democracy

Tessie for Harris Oct 25, 2024

Bye bye WaPo managers

Remember democracy dies

Am canceling my subscription asap today