In a notable shift for the 2024 election, The Washington Post and Gannett’s USA Today Network have opted out of endorsing presidential candidates, claiming to reinforce neutrality and respond to public trust concerns. The Washington Post’s decision, reportedly directed by owner Jeff Bezos after an editorial favoring Vice President Kamala Harris had been drafted, led to over 200,000 digital subscription cancellations and spurred several resignations, including senior editor Robert Kagan and two editorial board members.
Bezos defended his stance in an op-ed, arguing that endorsements risk perceptions of bias and emphasizing that “neither campaign nor candidate” influenced the choice. Gannett’s USA Today Network, encompassing over 200 local papers, similarly announced it would avoid presidential endorsements, focusing instead on local and state-level issues.
Critics of the endorsement halt argue that these decisions may reduce the role of major publications in guiding public understanding during critical elections. Disappointed by the decision, some Washington Post subscribers have pointed to the paper’s “Democracy Dies in Darkness” motto as a call for stronger editorial positions, especially in polarized times. Additionally, analysts have questioned whether Bezos’s diverse business interests might complicate the perception of neutrality. At the same time, some argue that Gannett’s move could diminish the national impact of its outlets, limiting their voices on broader issues affecting American voters.
Do you appreciate our work? Please consider one of the following ways to sustain us.
or
Follow Media Bias Fact Check:
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/mediabiasfactcheck.bsky.social
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Media_Bias_Fact_Check/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@mediabiasfactcheck
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MBFC_News
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mediabiasfactcheck
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@mediabiasfactcheck
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mediabiasfactcheck/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mbfcnews/
It has always baffled me why so many people subscribe to rags like The Post and NY Times who only want to control the narrative and consider most to be dumb and stupid. Adios from an 81 year old Proud American who thought the world of JFK Dr. King and RFK when America was Great.
To complete my first comment “We The People” will Rise again in 7 days and take back what is rightfully ours The United States of America. One Nation under God to which the American people can say Thank You Donald trump for saving us and together We will Make America Great Again Amen!
As Johnny Clegg wrote in his song “One Man, One Vote”
The west is sleeping in a fragile freedom
Forgotten is the price that was paid
Ten thousand years of marching through a veil of tears
To break a few links in these chains
These things come to us by way of much pain
Don’t let us slip back into the dark
On a visible but distant shore — a new image of man
The shape of his own future, now in his own hands
Chorus:
One ‘man, one vote — step into the future
One ‘man, one vote — in a unitary state
One ‘man, one vote — tell them when you see them
One ‘man, one vote — it’s the only way
In the east a giant is awakening
And in the south we feel the rising tide
The soul inside the spark that gives breath to your life
Can no longer be made to hide
These things come to us by way of much pain
Don’t let us slip back into the dark
On a visible but distant shore — a new image of man
The shape of his own future, now in his own hands
Chorus