Editor resigns, subscribers cancel as Washington Post non-endorsement prompts crisis at Bezos paper
Last edited Fri Oct 25, 2024, 07:11 PM - Edit history (3)
Source: Semafor
The Washington Post's leadership recently sought meetings with the Democratic and Republican nominees for president, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, people familiar with the requests said. Neither campaign scheduled the meeting, Post editors assured the Harris campaign a meeting wouldn't affect an endorsement. And insiders and outsiders alike assumed the Post would choose the Democrat, as virtually every American newspaper has in the last two elections.
Friday, readers and employees learned otherwise: The Post, following the Los Angeles Times (as first reported by Semafor), will no longer endorse candidates. Post editor Will Lewis wrote that "we know" some readers will take the decision as "an abdication of responsibility," and many of his employees appear to have done so. (A person familiar with the numbers said the failure to meet, indeed, had no impact on the decision.)
The first prominent journalist, editor-at-large Robert Kagan, resigned Friday in response to the decision, Semafor first reported. But there may be more: "people are shocked, furious, surprised," said an editorial board member, citing internal discussions around resignation. "If you don't have the balls to own a newspaper, don't."
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Read more: https://www.semafor.com/article/10/25/2024/editor-resign-subscribers-cancel-as-washington-post-non-endorsement-prompts-crisis-at-bezos-paper
I just cancelled my subscription to Washington Post, so that makes about 2001
Anyone in DU cancel their subscription?
Here is the WaPo link to see the 19,000+ comments on the non-endorse story. Lots of cancellations.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/25/washington-post-endorsement/
Ocelot II
(121,233 posts)Dock_Yard
(159 posts)SallyHemmings
(1,887 posts)QED
(2,969 posts)Big Blue Marble
(5,473 posts)Just like that... and I have subscripting to the Post since the seventies.
I read on the Post comments that the cancellations were running at 10,000
per hour. Not sure the paper survives, but then who needs a paper that
you cannot trust.
BattleRow
(1,226 posts)Jrose
(1,350 posts)over 16,000 readers stated they would cancel their subscriptions.
The Washington Post's credo has been for years that 'democracy dies in darkness'. If 2024 presidential candidate, Trump, gets elected, democracy will die in the dark shadow of media silence, especially the silence of a major newspaper such as the Washington Post.
Only one candidate -- VP Kamala Harris -- represents democracy and human rights. The other one is on a mission to become a fascistic, narcissistic and racist tyrant.
WaPo is saying, in essence, that the bringer of darkness is equally as acceptable as the champion of democracy and human dignity.
I have therefore discontinued my decade-long paid subscription to Washington Post unless and until it shows what it stands for.
aggiesal
(9,490 posts)@washingtonpost
I guess the lights just went out on Democracy.
Your decision, based on your motto "Democracy Dies in Darkness", is Irony Deficient.
MadameButterfly
(1,857 posts)than help democracy win so they would never have to make that choice. Is it seriously worth it to be printing his propaganda? The hero of 1972 is now the Vichy regime.
LibinMo
(561 posts)Due to the way they treated Biden. Now I'm looking for a replacement. I'd appreciate suggestions from like minded Democrats. My local paper was ruined when Gannet took over a few years back, doesn't do much in depth reporting. This is MAGA country anyway.
TBF
(34,571 posts)Which is pretty pathetic considering they aren't even in this country.
LearnedHand
(4,211 posts)Wednesdays
(20,315 posts)But one wholly devoted to fascism.
TBF
(34,571 posts)ending freedom of the press. They are preemptively trying to work on their Project 2025.
reACTIONary
(6,059 posts).... New York Times.
littlemissmartypants
(25,717 posts)Kicking WaPo to the curb.
Those are my recommendations. ❤️
https://www.inquirer.com/
ananda
(30,884 posts)And I cancelled the NYT several months ago.
I don't subscribe to anything now.
aggiesal
(9,490 posts)TBF
(34,571 posts)I only had it because I used to live in the DC area (I'm in Texas now). They can go to he**. And the only thing they'll understand is less $$ coming in.
BonnieJW
(2,591 posts)WAPO mistake. Magats certainly don't subscribe to that paper so the only ones they were going to alienate were going to be dems.
barbtries
(29,914 posts)and many others throughout the country.
I also canceled my prime subscription today. shoulda done it long ago.
aggiesal
(9,490 posts)I'm wondering how many will cancel their Prime Video account.
That's asking a lot, since Prime has the contract for Thursday Night NFL broadcast.
barbtries
(29,914 posts)fortunately for me i don't follow football.
been spending a lot of time reading the comments on WP - i suspect that Bezos is losing thousands of subscribers today and will continue to.
aggiesal
(9,490 posts)barbtries
(29,914 posts)must be about 20,000 or so comments and probably half or more of them announce their cancellation of the WP
aggiesal
(9,490 posts)Dem4life1234
(1,943 posts)They should have eaten their food and endorsed the correct candidate.
krkaufman
(13,749 posts)Subscribe ... and then cancel the next day. (You get a full refund so long as you don't actually use any of the Prime services.)
Link to tweet
japple
(10,369 posts)bleed to death.
Mme. Defarge
(8,563 posts)Its called feedback.
moreland01
(834 posts)Where is everyone going for the wide array of daily news now? Guardian?
Jrose
(1,350 posts)AZ8theist
(6,543 posts)But on the whole, the American press has been an absolute joke compared to England and Europe.
Even al Jazerra has been more credible.
Dem4life1234
(1,943 posts)paleotn
(19,374 posts)Augiedog
(2,602 posts)There is a reason some conscientious people say democracy dies in darkness . Gee, where have I read that before hmmm.
dsvajda
(14 posts)Looks like I'll have a little more to spend on my grandchildren for Christmas and I won't have to read Marc Thiessen's drivel any more.
Espoir
(15 posts)My only regret is that in the future I won't be able to quit them again. Bye.
spooky3
(36,328 posts)My subscription was supposed to be up for renewal on Halloween, so theyre losing my support right before the election.
Marthe48
(19,191 posts)I haven't subscribed to a paper, local or national for a long time. The local paper endorsed p.o.s bush for his 2nd run. I had a wapo subscription in 2017, decided not to renew when I realized that papers like that would let traitor go on and on to sell their rag and not actually take up against him.
Since Nov. 9 2016, I have looked for one headline every morning. When I see that headline, I will be thrilled.
erronis
(16,997 posts)They don't tend to be geared to the latest breaking news stories nor so concentrated on the political machinations.
But their in-depth reporting - and continuing to dig into stories for months and years, is absolutely incredible.
Add in Kaiser Health News (khn.org) if you're looking for in-depth reporting on healthcare (and the business of).
travelingthrulife
(882 posts)Seems like the tumbrels need to roll for these anti-democracy rich folks.
OldSWODog
(74 posts)...and WaPo just unscrewed the lightbulb...I cancelled our WaPo, LAT, NYT subscriptions in the last half hour...and I'm upping my monthly donation to the Guardian...cheers, OSD
aggiesal
(9,490 posts)OldSWODog
(74 posts)aggiesal, greetings...I posted mine before reading all of the responses...you and I are in concurrance; I'm glad to be a fellow traveler...cheers, OSD
aggiesal
(9,490 posts)jfz9580m
(15,544 posts)They are unambiguously progressive. If I ever get a regular print subscription they are my first choice. Right now I just donate occasionally to a couple of left zines (Current Affairs - I am a fan of Nathan Robinson, BlackAgendaReport) and more rarely The Guardian.
I have donated to Vox, because I do love Maria Bolotnikovas animal rights reporting, but overall I have mixed feelings about them on account of their perpetuation of that bullshit hysteria over declining birth rates. It is because of their ties to Si Valley/the effective altruists. Totally environmentally irresponsible. They sound like J D Vance or other pro-natalists.
Every time I see anything by Kelsey Piper I regret having ever donated to Vox.
ralps
(78,826 posts)JustTooMuch
(24 posts)I cancelled mine. Was contemplating cancelling for a while due to their right wing bias becoming more and more prevalent. Glad its gone
johnnyfins
(1,445 posts)Can NEVER be a trusted news source again. As I said in an earlier post: People love Amazon, they don't NEED Amazon.
Crowman2009
(2,828 posts)With books for instance, I buy mostly at Barnes & Noble.
JHB
(37,450 posts)In his note, the publisher says "but in 1976 for understandable reasons at the time, we changed this long-standing policy and endorsed Jimmy Carter as president."
He does not elaborate on what the "understandable reasons at the time" were, likely because enumerating them would expose how un-understandable it is to choose this particular election to go back to the earlier non-endorsement (except once for Eisenhower) policy.
"Democracy dies in darkness", eh? Hell of a time to turn off the light switch.
aggiesal
(9,490 posts)dexdah
(51 posts)I'm done with the oligarch media!
Keepthesoulalive
(725 posts)Not one dime to these traitors.
Marigold
(210 posts)ShazzieB
(18,854 posts)So it doesn't really count. But if I hadn't already canceled, I would now.
HAB911
(9,365 posts)I'm considering it. This could be the thing that brings back local business, just sayin'
onecaliberal
(36,206 posts)Youre still supporting the fascists if you dont. If you need something same day, just go shopping.
HAB911
(9,365 posts)capitulated eventually. Time to bring back local business.
onecaliberal
(36,206 posts)I try to always shop small business too.
chowder66
(9,860 posts)malthaussen
(17,740 posts)I am impressed.
-- Mal
slightlv
(4,398 posts)Hermit-The-Prog
(36,602 posts)qanda
(10,424 posts)With the savings.
bottomofthehill
(8,852 posts)Canceling subscription now.
bottomofthehill
(8,852 posts)Canceling subscription now.
TygrBright
(20,987 posts)liberalgunwilltravel
(555 posts)Fuck Lewis, Bezos, Trump, Putin, and Musk.
usregimechange
(18,497 posts)mdbl
(5,490 posts)They are too wealthy to give a shit. Although you would think Bezos wouldn't be such a weenie since he can just take off to another planet if it gets too rough down here for him.
Clouds Passing
(2,547 posts)Godot51
(306 posts)We are the "media".
Watch us make the news.
c-rational
(2,876 posts)tishaLA
(14,343 posts)And cancelled today.
Ironically, I subscribed because I decided my hometown newspaper, the LA Times, wasn't meeting the moment.
keithbvadu2
(40,323 posts)aggiesal
(9,490 posts)Captain Zero
(7,532 posts)If you can
I've determined that I can do it.
Fuck Jeff Bezos.
irisblue
(34,375 posts)dsharp88
(511 posts)If EVER there was an election to endorse as a show of press freedom this one was it.
littlemissmartypants
(25,717 posts)It's possible to sign up and cancel several times in one day without any penalty?
If so it'd be worth it to do so, just to run up the number of cancelations.
somaticexperiencing
(549 posts)DemonGoddess
(5,125 posts)cutroot
(989 posts)CCExile
(524 posts)LymphocyteLover
(6,889 posts)mountain grammy
(27,341 posts)Right after the Alito flag incident. I decided the Washington Post didnt need me.
BlueKota
(3,690 posts)renew in January. Fuck them.
MontanaFarmer
(745 posts)cate94
(2,892 posts)Unfortunately Im paid through April.
electron_blue
(3,600 posts)I also wrote them and explained why.
pspro
(7 posts)I don't love all their coverage on everything but they are not part of this particular problem...
National/International
ProPublica: https://www.propublica.org
The New Republic: https://newrepublic.com/pages/about
The Guardian (as many have pointed out): http://guardian.co.uk
The Globe and Mail (Canada): https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Not sure if they do endorsements or not but they seem somewhat evenhanded, ymmv:
USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com
Here's an ongoing wiki list (so leaving it to you to confirm veracity) of media endorsements including local media, fyi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_media_endorsements_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election
Bumbles
(256 posts)Mysterian
(5,194 posts)The only good thing about this incident.
SleeplessinSoCal
(9,714 posts)I feel sick about it because I first subscribed based on the 2016 election.
denvine
(828 posts)Kali
(55,829 posts)NYT a while back, never had amazon prime in my life, sent the Guardian $50.
nankerphelge
(1,024 posts)Will send the money to The Guardian or Media's Touch instead.
catbyte
(35,897 posts)orleans
(35,141 posts)CaptainTruth
(7,260 posts)moniss
(6,065 posts)and his desire for more by way of tax breaks is on full display.
niyad
(120,404 posts)genitalia as a synonym for courage??? There are at least 30 of them.Get a damned dictionary, or look one up online if your patriarchal little brain cannot think of one.
liberalmediaaddict
(941 posts)Or I would cancel.
I didn't know they were going to help democracy die in darkness.
NewHendoLib
(60,549 posts)VMA131Marine
(4,675 posts)Cowards!
dem4decades
(11,948 posts)aggiesal
(9,490 posts)If you look at the link I supplied, where you can read the comments, the last time I looked, it was fast approaching 20,000 comments, where it seems like 50% were subscription cancellation comments.
So about 10,000.
WaPo stated that 2,000 was a lot.
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,949 posts)My humble opinion: I think Bezos wants the cancellations as an excuse to kill off the print edition.
As a practical matter, newspaper endorsements aren't relevant in 2024.
Figarosmom
(3,061 posts)IrishAfricanAmerican
(4,182 posts)camartinwv
(86 posts)Old Crank
(4,805 posts)I'll miss the 4 day a week cooking news letter but that is a small price to pay.
I'll have to drop out of my other Amazon products also.
Dealing with the books I have bought electronically will be a pain.
C Moon
(12,593 posts)neohippie
(1,171 posts)I cancelled mine too
Sadly the paper in my opinion has been in decline and I was getting tired of all the right wing opinion writers too
keithbvadu2
(40,323 posts)Farmer-Rick
(11,505 posts)And I'm looking for other sites to get the stuff I need. NOT AMAZON.
La Urraca
(5 posts)I cannot support WP cowardice .
Going to not renew Amazon
Bravo Ann Telnes 💘
arkielib
(373 posts)So I'm one of the "about 2000". I hope there are a lot more.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,601 posts)Demonstrates the problem with a dominant consumer retail company owning a major media company.
Also avoids him and Amazon experiencing thousands of death and other violent act threats, not to mention thousands of fake bad product reviews on Amazon.
This is not the way democracy is supposed to work.
KY.......
aggiesal
(9,490 posts)He doesn't want to endorse Harris/Walz in case Pendejo45 wins the election and p1$$e$ Pendejo45 off for endorsing his Harris/Walz.
He would instantly lose his bid on the government contracts.
What a coward.
ificandream
(10,614 posts)I really like the Post and it was a tough decision. But the timing on this is just reprehensible on the Post's part. Had they done this last year or even six months ago, I probably wouldn't have canceled it. But I had to given what the circumstances are and the consequences. The big problem, which both the Post and the L.A. Times don't seem to realize, is that Trump will see these two events as boosts for him and trumpet about them. The papers should have thought this through more thoroughly. Too bad they didn't.
HighFired49
(389 posts)Cancelled today.
Chrysanthemum
(202 posts)I also cancelled my subscription to the Washington Post. My money will not support Bezos, who is complicit in fascism.
IzzaNuDay
(653 posts)Now looking for the DU post with email addresses to send my letter saying why.
aggiesal
(9,490 posts)I left a message similar to my #11 post in this story.