Owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, the prestigious Washington Post newspaper declared on Friday that it will not support either Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris in the US presidential election.

This is a return “to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” according to CEO William Lewis.

But for the majority of the previous forty years, the Post editorial board has supported candidates, all of whom are Democrats, before choosing to remain neutral in one of the most divisive campaigns in American history.

Newspaper editorials no longer have as much political weight as they previously did. However, among the few conventional media sources that continue to have sway over Washington’s elite is the Post, whose tagline is “Democracy dies in darkness.”

The Trump team jumped right in, declaring that “The Washington Post decided to never endorse another presidential candidate again because Harris is so bad.”

The newspaper’s unionised employees are represented by the Washington Post Guild, which expressed its “deep concern.”

According to a statement, “we are already seeing cancellations from once loyal readers.”

Robert Kagan, editor at large and a prominent Post figure, quit in protest, according to US media.

Owners of billions of dollars

The Los Angeles Times, one of the major US newspapers that is still in operation, made a similar choice to the Post’s.

In reaction, editorial editor Mariel Garza quit on Wednesday, saying the Times’ rich owner prevented the editorial board from endorsing Harris.

The Washington Post said that Bezos also stepped in to prevent the board from releasing its editorial supporting Harris.

The New York Times, on the other hand, praised Harris in September, describing her as “the only patriotic choice for president” and cautioning that “it is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States” than Trump.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, the largest newspaper in Pennsylvania, a battleground state, also endorsed Harris on Friday, stating that “voters face an easy but tectonic choice.”

The Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, the New York Post, gave the Republican a boost Friday when it said, “America is ready for today’s heroic Donald Trump to reclaim the presidency.”

“Cowardice”?

Lewis of The Washington Post said in a statement that the publication would no longer endorse presidents.

“At The Washington Post, our job is to provide nonpartisan news for all Americans through the newsroom, along with thought-provoking, reported views from our opinion team to help our readers make their own decisions,” he stated.

Since the 1980s, The Post has continuously supported Democratic candidates while emphasising that, as is customary in US news organisations, the editorial board operates independently of the newsgathering business.

Marty Baron, the former executive editor of The Post, criticised the newspaper for its “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”

Trump would see the ruling, according to Baron, “as an invitation to further intimidate” Bezos.