Per MSNBC Washington Post won't endorse a candidate. Today I will cancel my Washington Post subscription. These cowards

[JohnSJ]

are afraid of trump retribution if he should win.

Washington Post Will No Longer Endorse Presidential Candidates

From Bloomberg:

"The Washington Post won’t be making a presidential endorsement for the 2024 election or in any future presidential races.

William Lewis, the newspaper’s publisher and chief executive officer, said in a statement Friday that the publication is “returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”

The paper, which is owned by Amazon.com Inc. co-founder Jeff Bezos, had drafted an endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris, according to Oliver Darcy’s newsletter Status.

Top editorial page editors at the Los Angeles Times resigned this week after the newspaper’s owner blocked a planned endorsement for Harris."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-25/washington-post-will-no-longer-endorse-presidential-candidates?srnd=homepage-americas

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for newspaper editors to do nothing."

[bullimiami]

1. If they don't know right from wrong why should anyone trust their paper?

Should not of course.

[JohnSJ]

3. Exactly, especially with this election, where our democracy is at stake.

[FakeNoose]

18. Bring back Woodward and Bernstein, and reputable managing editors like Ben Bradlee

[Staph]

62. And visionary publisher/owners like Katharine Graham!

[hlthe2b]

2. I did too.

[BlueHurricane]

4. Absolute Cowards!

Scum! They are scum! Bezos via Will Lewis have ruined a once reliable newspaper.

[wnylib]

60. Didn't the OP say that Bezos had drafted a statement

that endorsed Harris/Walz?

I'd like to see Bezos release that statement in another venue, maybe a press conference or to online media, like Huffpost, Salon, Politico, Meidas Touch.

[Cha]

75. Yes it did. That's what I don't understand...

Doesn't Bezos have a say.. since "he had drafted an Endorsement of Kamala Harris for President".?

A Horrible Look to not take a Stand in this Election. Chicken Littles.

The NYT Endorsed Kamala Harris!.

[wnylib]

97. I wondered about that, too. Either the newspaper's

corporate structure does not allow him to have final authority over such decisions, or it does allow it and he chose not to exercise it.

[Cha]

98. Well since that post we've learned that it was Bezos

Who made the decision as has been reported.

Jeff Bezos just taught American businessmen a 'lesson': Bulwark editor

While critics immediately pounced on the non-endorsement by the Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos and reported that he made the decision, The Bulwark's Jonathan Last wrote Friday that the development is more a story about business than it is about journalism.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219607833

So many are Cancelling their Subscriptions to the WaPo and Amazon.. taking a Stand against Not taking a Stand. :

[wnylib]

100. Thanks.

[TwilightZone]

5. But why should they be? It makes no sense.

They documented more than 30,000 false statements made by Trump during his administration and have been, contrary to claims, pretty critical about pretty much everything he does.

So, they have nothing to lose by endorsing her. Trump and the right already hate WaPo. If they don't want to be a target, it's already much too late to worry about that - they have been a target for years.

[tman]

7. Owners are scared of retribution.

[GoodRaisin]

20. That's it.

They are scared of Trump if he wins.

[spooky3]

44. But only from Trump. They know Harris is too ethical to retaliate. Nt

[pat_k]

10. Makes sense given the Murdoch-ization of WaPo

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219605537#post8

[FrankBooth]

14. That's what I don't understand

There is nothing the WaPo or any newspaper could do to appease the right-wingers, as the false mantra of the 'liberal media' is one of the most sacred of their cows, and completely unassailable. If you throw them this bone it'll be 'what are you going do for us next?' They will never, ever, ever, ever stop demanding fealty.

[Skittles]

89. democracy vs fascism

and this is their stand

FUCK THEM

[tman]

6. Owners (Bezos) are scared lof trump's retribution.

[newdeal2]

27. He is one of the richest people on the planet

He has a huge security detail.

If he is afraid, what about the rest of us? Shouldn’t he feel some obligation to help stop Trump.

[Maeve]

92. It's not security, it's money and bother

The money and time fighting TSF isn't worth it for him. Easier to let things slide

[pat_k]

8. Murdoch-ization of the Washington Post

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/06/03/rupert-murdoch-washington-post-00161279

It's up to We the People to save the country.

The far right may be very loud right now but there are more of us and we are a mighty.

23:45
We've gotta win this thing for our families, our democracy, our freedoms and our future. . . . We've gotta close here with joy, and confidence, and strength, and power, and not from fear and worry. Fear and worry are what they want. What we want is we close this thing with joy and love of country and love of one another. These are far more powerful emotions than fear and worry.

24:20
Let me say one last thing. . . I want to remind everybody about one of the central reasons that we're all here together at hopium, which is that -- and Joe Biden talked about this in his State of the Union speech this year. He talked about FDR's speech in 1941; FDRs State of the Union address. He talked about how that address was the beginning of the call of America to rally against fascism and rising authoritarianism in wht became the rallying cry tht began to move America into World War II. That speech though was also the speech where FDR laid out his vision of the four freedoms and how he wanted a world that was not base on dominion and control, one country having control over another or one person having control over another. A world based not on dominion, but freedom. And he laid out the Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of the Press. He laid out these four freedoms for all of us . . . And these four freedoms became the foundation of the modern world. The four freedoms became the basis of the Atlantic Charter that got the United States and the United Kingdom together in 1941, that became the basis of the alliance that won World War II. The four freedoms became the basis of the United Nations Charter in 1945, which laid out an international law, a global system where one nation could not have control of another; dominion over another. And it was the beginningg of the unraveling of all holdings by European powers, their colonial system. FDR forced the unraveling of all that to be consisten with the United Nations view that no nation should have dominion over another. This is part of the the war in Ukraine is about. Russia is trying to go back to a period prior to the United Nations where countries coul have dominion over one another. And then in 1948, negotiated in part by Eleanor Roosevelt, there waas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which ws the first time in international law individual people had human rights... And that world of freedom -- of these four freedoms, that world of Pax Americana over the last 80 years has created a golden age in human history. There's never been better time to be alive in all of human history that there's been in over these past 80 years. We've seen life expectancy go from 45 years to over 70 years now in the world, we've seen extreme poverty, dispite huge explosion of population, plummet in raw numbers. We've seen more people living under democracy that any time in human history. We've seen more people being literate an being able to read and write. Three times as many people today can do so as a percentage of the population than in the 1940's. Meaning they have more capacity to do and contribute and live out their dreams than anytime before. This has been a golden age in human history.

What's important for us is we get this final fuel to go do the work that we need to do for our country and our democracy and for our kids. We have to remind ourselves that that world - this golden age in human history -- was something that WE did. The Democratic Party of the United States did that. We created a golden age in human history. And it's my view that there has never been an organized force that's done more good for more people than the Democratic Party that we're all part of.

One of the reasons I'm so confident that we're going to prevail here in the next 13 days is that when our party was called in the 1940s, we all answered. We rose to the occasion, and we defeated authoritarianism and fascism then. And what Joe Biden began in his State of the Union speech, he was making a new call asking our party to once again answer a all to defeat fascism here and all around the world; to make sure that freedom continued to prevail over dominion.

The reason I end all of this so confident and so optimistic is because all of you have been answer this call. Millions and millions of Americans have been going to work, donating money, writing postcards -- 80 million postcards are in the process of hitting all across the country -- canvasing every day, texting, phone banking, info warring, working your networks with good informtion. You guys have gone to work, you've answered the call. Millions of you have done this. And the millions of you who have answered this call is more powerful than the dancing dipshits on the other side, right? Let them have Elon Musk and a bunch of these oligarchs. We've got all of you. We're more powerful than they are. And we are doing the work for our democracy...

Do more, worry less...

[sarisataka]

9. Maybe if I don't upset the leopard it won't eat my face...

Spoiler- it will still eat your face.

[Reader Rabbit]

11. "Democracy dies in darkness."

Hypocrites

[Marigold]

12. The cowardice is stunning

I already cancelled the NYT months ago. Now it's time for WP. Evil prospers when good people say nothing. This should disabuse any of us of the notion that the so called liberal media is anything but 3 or 4 self serving corporations.

[BattleRow]

70. NYT..all the news that's shit to print.

(NYT slogan is .."All the news that fit to print." )

[Sneederbunk]

13. That there is an Undecided.

[yellowcanine]

15. Based on MSNBC saying it? Shouldn't we let the WP make their own announcement?

[BlueHurricane]

17. They did.

Will Lewis, awful Publisher, responsible for their abysmal coverage this election, announced on their site.

[JohnSJ]

23. They did, that is where MSNBC got the story, from the Washington Post. Here it is:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/25/washington-post-endorsement/

[sarisataka]

24. On Political Endorsement

On Political Endorsement
(Pay wall)

[littlemissmartypants]

49. Actually... no paywall...

Per WaPo:

This article is free to access.

The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.

[PCIntern]

16. Fuck these cowards

I wonder what video he and Putin have on somebody-in-chief.

[Keepthesoulalive]

19. This is why alternate media is flourishing

We can no longer trust them to tell the truth and believe that being a news organization requires you to understand you are one of the pillars of a functioning democracy.

[Jmb 4 Harris-Walz]

21. I canceled mine a while ago but I had just purchased a year subscription so it won't run out for quite awhile.

[LymphocyteLover]

22. such fucking bullshit,,, paving the way for fascism

[RedSpartan]

25. Just cancelled mine.

[Danmel]

26. Cowards! Subscription canceled

At this time of existential peril, with a major party candidate a Hitler wannabe, we should heed the words of Elie Wiesel:
We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.

[Mosby]

28. Does it matter?

Do any newspaper endorsements matter?

[Keepthesoulalive]

95. It matters to me

Plus they have not held trump to the same standard as Biden.
Subscription bye bye.

[Maeve]

29. Cancelled today as well

Last edited Fri Oct 25, 2024, 12:55 PM - Edit history (1)

Left message on the announcement--"Cowards. Cancelling"

Rich guy afraid he'll be targeted if TSF wins

[Walleye]

30. American journalism is just about hit rock-bottom. I remember when newspapers and reporters were respected

At least journalism used to be considered necessary to democracy. Apparently they don’t want us to be informed anymore. Hell they don’t even want us to vote at all.

[JohnSJ]

31. Any newspaper, WAPO, LA Times, etc, that has neither the clarity of vision nor the values to speak out against fascism

and in favor of democracy and the U.S. Constitution?

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for newspaper editors to do nothing."

[bucolic_frolic]

32. There would likely be Trump Camps just for Journalists

TC-J.

These guys are afraid of it. Or the Beltway is trying to protect Republicans from a most thorough thrashing by voters, because let's not pretend, they know what real polls say at this point.

[Baitball Blogger]

33. Instead of a whimper, the newspapers will fall with a bang.

[Deminpenn]

34. A more effective strategy world be

to stop buying things from Amazon, buy books from other booksellers, too.

Bezos probably doesn't care the WP loses money because if helps offset profits from.his other ones.

[JohnSJ]

35. True.

[Deminpenn]

36. Remember Sears was amazon

before there was an Amazon. Now it barely exists.

[CloudWatcher]

69. Boycott Amazon!

I'm astonished that so many liberals think nothing of buying everything from Amazon. They're evil in so many different ways, it's hard to keep track of them all.

[redwitch]

37. My sister just emailed to say she just canceled her subscription.

Appalling that the paper who bravely wrote about Watergate has come to this.

[onenote]

38. Total bullshit -- they've been endorsing congressional and senate candidates.

There is no rational justification for this decision with respect to the presidential race

[Alhena]

39. The intimidation of the media is a significant milestone on the way to a banana republic

The same newspaper that exposed Nixon's crimes is turning a blind eye to Trump's.

[tishaLA]

40. Democracy Dies by Assisted Suicide

[Mr.WeRP]

41. The Fourth Estate has failed America

[MT in SF]

42. Pathetic

Just plain pathetic. So much for the press safeguarding anything but profits. I guess billionaires can only get so liberal.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

43. making this worse, not better

also gonna be on the wrong side of history, being neutral in not against fascism, good grief

[Initech]

45. Fucking cowards!!!!

Democracy isn't dying in darkness, it's being murdered in broad daylight. Fuck the Washington Post, LA Times, and anyone else who's not realizing how dangerous Trump and his goons are.

[yliza]

46. Add me to the list of "just cancelled"

I’ve been irritated with some of their coverage lately, this was the last straw.

[JoseBalow]

47. This is how fascists control the press

[Mme. Defarge]

48. The readers' comments

have been scathing and subscriptions cancelled. Cancelling mine.

[ok_cpu]

84. Comments are still open

7.4k plus right now and 99% plus negative. I've seen them get shut down faster for smaller beat downs.

[orangecrush]

50. As someone who came of age during Watergate

I am appalled and disgusted.

And very angry.

?si=pGoR6Bq7U7NtfcLZ

[catbyte]

51. I just canceled too. Goddamned cowards.

[CCExile]

52. Just hit send...

on my WP cancellation. Fuckers.

[riversedge]

53. Is this the part where Democracy Dies in Darkness? ...............

Is this the part where Democracy Dies in Darkness?

Shame on you, @WashingtonPost
.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[PennRalphie]

54. I'm really surprised

To see so many here subscribing to Bezos newspaper. I know here in the Pittsburgh area, when I canceled the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, I didn’t get anything back. I had paid for whatever time it was, 32 weeks or what it was, there was no refund. It just didn’t renew.

I hope all of you get a refund.

[peggysue2]

55. Good one on you, John

I canceled my WAPO subscription a number of weeks ago. I was weary of the bothsiderism and the chicken-shit opinion pieces. If I had held back, this refusal to stand up for democracy would certainly have tipped me over.

This is exactly what Timothy Snyder warned of: obedience in advance as opposing forces attempt to normalize fascist behavior and/or deny that fascism exists.

More subscribers need to send the message:

We. Are. Not. Having. It.

Enough is enough.

[poli-junkie]

56. "Anticipatory obeisance" nt

[Mme. Defarge]

57. Today the Washington Post

officially “turned out the lights”.

Subscription cancelled.

[Onthefly]

58. Just cancelled too.

[Arkansas Granny]

59. I cancelled my subscription, as well.

[dsharp88]

61. Cancelling immediately.

And I've subscribed online a long time.

[iscooterliberally]

63. Disappointing, but I wasn't reading it that much anyway.

Canceled...

[jfz9580m]

64. Bezos probably just wants more deregulation and tax cuts

I doubt it is even fear..it is just that crass. He is the one who canceled it..

[SunSeeker]

65. The ultimate sanewashing of Trump by WaPo. nt

[BootinUp]

66. Just cancelled and selected concern about content

As the reason.

[MonaLisa1]

67. Just cancelled Washington Post subscription

[Magoo48]

68. The fourth estate, as protector of democracy and investigative backhoe digging for truth among government secrets

Is extinct.

[Joinfortmill]

71. R I P. MFrs. Gonna be mass cancellations.

[DoBW]

93. Me too

canceled after hearing

[mac56]

72. Me too.

[another_hanna]

73. Damn this sucks. Subscription canceled.

This pains me. I think it's truly important to support our newspapers. But, this is a bridge too far. I just cancelled my subscription. Damn this sucks.

[Wednesdays]

82. Welcome to DU!

[Kid Berwyn]

74. Tell 'em "Democracy Dies in Darkness."

I know you know that.

[neohippie]

76. I just cancelled mine

I cancelled mine because honestly I felt like the paper has kind of sucked and changed the last year. Too much coddling of Trump and too many right wing pundits as well in their opinion pages

[Pachamama]

77. I thought democracy dies in silence?

Guess they are making it clear -

Their silence is deafening

[RainCaster]

78. I cancelled mine 2 years ago

I was such of the repukes then.

[turbinetree]

79. I guess they forgot what Thomas Payne said about the press.............

Thomas Paine believed that media could help people see, hear, and think differently, and that it could be used to challenge oppressive social structures. He was a pioneer in political journalism, and his ideas about media ethics, the free flow of information, and the importance of a public that can engage with controversial opinions are still relevant today

[ShazzieB]

80. The WaPo needs to take that motto off their masthead.

You know, this one:

[surfered]

81. To save democracy, we must break up the billionaires

Or we will be no different than Russia with oligarchs colluding with the Tsar.

[Renew Deal]

83. Do voters actually care about these big paper endorsements in the GE?

I doubt it.

[Skittles]

90. honestly, it's what it shows

democracy is on the line and they are behaving like cowards

[FranklinsTower]

85. Cancelled

Instead of taking a stand against fascism, the Post has set the orange ghostlight out on the empty stage of Democracy. Ugh.

[TygrBright]

86. Misogyny wins again. They can't handle a serious prospect of a female leader. n/t

[Skittles]

91. I think they endorsed Hillary

this time it is just plain cowardice

[TygrBright]

94. Bezos had just purchased the paper then. He hadn't closed the iron fist yet. n/t

[arkielib]

87. I just canceled my WP subscription.

I got rid of my New York Times subscription a long time ago, but I like some of the editorial writers at WP, like Eugene Robinson, so I kept it - until today. Bezos is a coward and is afraid of Trump. How can a newspaper be trusted if it won't stand up to fascism?

[Mme. Defarge]

88. I'll miss Jennifer

mais c’est la guerre.

[Dock_Yard]

96. I canceled today, even though I had paid $120 for Feb'24-Feb'25.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

99. I will be cancelling my Washington Post subscription

I cancelled my NYT subscription back in 2016

[Algernon Moncrieff]

101. Newspaper endorsements aren't relevant in 2024

I read the WaPo for Carolyn Hax' advice articles.

But anyone who is angry should unsubscribe.

[JHB]

102. They traded "Democracy dies in darkness" for "Peace in our time"

And we all know how successful appeasement is.