Jeff Bezos addresses Washington Post endorsement fiasco, cites distrust in media led to 'principled decision'
'I wish we had made the change earlier than we did,' Bezos admitted
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos penned an op-ed defending the paper's "principled decision" in not endorsing a presidential candidate in the 2024 race.
Bezos began the piece Monday by citing a Gallup poll showing Americans losing trust in the media, even falling below Congress, telling readers "Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working."
"We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement," Bezos wrote. "Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose. Reality is an undefeated champion. It would be easy to blame others for our long and continuing fall in credibility (and, therefore, decline in impact), but a victim mentality will not help. Complaining is not a strategy. We must work harder to control what we can control to increase our credibility."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos defended the decision to stop presidential endorsements in an op-ed published on the paper's website. ((Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage) ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON POST OWNER JEFF BEZOS WANTS MORE CONSERVATIVE OPINION WRITERS AT PAPER: REPORT
The billionaire Amazon founder, who bought The Post in 2013, insisted that newspaper endorsements "do nothing to tip the scales of an election" but instead "create a perception of bias." He doubled down on The Post's decision to end its presidential endorsements by saying it's "principled decision, and it’s the right one."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"By itself, declining to endorse presidential candidates is not enough to move us very far up the trust scale, but it’s a meaningful step in the right direction. I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it. That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy," Bezos conceded.
Bezos denied there was any "quid pro quo" that motivated the decision and insisted the meeting the boss of his company Blue Origin had with former President Trump, which occurred the day of the announcement, was a regretful coincidence, flatly saying "There is no connection between it and our decision on presidential endorsements, and any suggestion otherwise is false."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Washington Post was set to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris before the move was quashed by the paper's leadership. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
He went on to suggest that his paper and other members of the legacy media are out of touch with most Americans.
"The Washington Post and the New York Times win prizes, but increasingly we talk only to a certain elite. More and more, we talk to ourselves," Bezos wrote. "While I do not and will not push my personal interest, I will also not allow this paper to stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance — overtaken by unresearched podcasts and social media barbs — not without a fight. It’s too important. The stakes are too high. Now more than ever the world needs a credible, trusted, independent voice, and where better for that voice to originate than the capital city of the most important country in the world?"
"To win this fight, we will have to exercise new muscles. Some changes will be a return to the past, and some will be new inventions. Criticism will be part and parcel of anything new, of course. This is the way of the world. None of this will be easy, but it will be worth it. I am so grateful to be part of this endeavor. Many of the finest journalists you’ll find anywhere work at The Washington Post, and they work painstakingly every day to get to the truth. They deserve to be believed," Bezos added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bezos cited growing distrust in the media as the reason behind the "principled decision" for The Washington Post to end presidential endorsements. ( SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
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Bezos' op-ed comes after The Post itself reported that the billionaire was behind the decision as the paper's CEO and publisher Will Lewis had "sought to tamp down speculation" had made the decision to help former President Trump.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meanwhile, the fallout over the decision is apparently leading The Post to pay a heavy price as NPR reported that the "Democracy Dies in Darkness" paper has lost more than a whopping 200,000 subscribers since Friday as liberal readers remain outraged that The Post is not endorsing Harris. Multiple members of the paper's editorial staff have also resigned.
The Washington Post has been struggling the past several years. Subscriptions and revenue were in decline prior to the paper's announcement about not endorsing the presidential race, which has led to buyouts and layoffs of employees.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.