WAPO Buckles to Jeff Bezos Over Kamala Endorsement

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2024
Posted on Fri Oct 25, 2024 at 10:25:00 PM EST
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The Washington Post has killed a planned editorial endorsement of Kamala Harris for President. Why? Because Post owner Jeff Bezos(who founded Amazon to become one of the world's richest persons) opposed it.

An endorsement of Harris had been drafted by Post editorial page staffers but had yet to be published, according to two people who were briefed on the sequence of events and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The decision to no longer publish presidential endorsements was made by The Post’s owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, according to the same two people.

[More...]

Here is the lame explanation published by the Post's editorial section gives.

Other publications are taking a different stance. The Philadelphia Inquirer endorsed Kamala Harris calling this year's election "tectonic" and asking:

"Will they choose the first woman or the oldest man to be the next president? Will they choose the prosecutor or the convict? Will they choose the candidate who supports restoring Roe v. Wade, or the man who bragged about overturning it?"

On the flip side, taking the same tack as the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times canceled its planned Harris endorsement last week, on orders from its owner, billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. The head of the paper's editorial board resigned in protest.

What's next? Will the Jeff Bezos and Elon Musks of the world press Congress for a constitutional amendment authorizing them to have more than one vote because of their billions in wealth? Will Donald Trump, should the country be crazy enough to elect him, create a new cabinet section for billionaires?

Maybe a college degree in journalism should be required for anyone seeking to buy an established media publication.

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WAPO Buckles to Jeff Bezos Over Kamala Endorsement | 19 comments (19 topical)

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I cancelled my sub (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by leap2 on Sat Oct 26, 2024 at 11:21:33 AM EST

After sporadically following that editorial's comment section since yesterday afternoon, I estimate 95-98% of those who have commented (37,587 as I write) noted they cancelled/are cancelling their subscriptions to WaPo. That ain't chicken feed. No wait, it IS chicken feed to the cowardly chicken-in-charge.

I am waivering on cancelation. I don't want (none / 0) (#2)
by Peter G on Sat Oct 26, 2024 at 01:49:12 PM EST

to cut off my access to Alexandra Petri's column.


you still have access to everything (5.00 / 2) (#4)
by leap2 on Sat Oct 26, 2024 at 03:50:52 PM EST

until your subscription runs out. By then, WaPo will probably offer you a please-don't-go sub for $10/year.


Actually, it immediately offered to renew (none / 0) (#6)
by Peter G on Sat Oct 26, 2024 at 04:19:50 PM EST

me for $60, which is half price. I quit anyway.


: When I cancelled, (5.00 / 1) (#8)
by leap2 on Sat Oct 26, 2024 at 04:22:42 PM EST

it offered me $29/year. I said nope.

This is (none / 0) (#9)
by jmacWA on Sun Oct 27, 2024 at 04:49:51 AM EST

what I figure I will renew for. Last year got $29, this year I will only take it for $10, because that would likely be them loosing money. Not going to support Bezos through WAPO anymore.


She is (none / 0) (#10)
by jmacWA on Sun Oct 27, 2024 at 07:40:37 AM EST

especially good today. Here is a link that should work for most.


You (none / 0) (#15)
by FlJoe on Mon Oct 28, 2024 at 06:10:16 PM EST

are far from alone

More than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by midday Monday, according to two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters.

Worse than buckled (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by Ga6thDem on Sat Oct 26, 2024 at 04:19:51 PM EST

Snyder says the first step in fighting autocracy is do not comply in advance. Besos for all his money is not and will not be safe and Trump will take all his money eventually like all autocrats do

Nice Space Company (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by KeysDan on Sun Oct 27, 2024 at 12:18:56 PM EST

you've got there, a shame if anything happened to it. Robert Kagan, the WaPo editor-at-large, who resigned Friday, told the Daily Beast that Bezos killed the draft endorsement of Kamala and Tim, on the same day Trump met with executives of Bezos' Blue Origin Space Company-- that has governmental contracts including a 3.4 billion dollar contract with NASA to build a lunar lander. Kagan believes this is evidence of a back room deal.

Apparently, these billionaires fear endorsing Harris/Walz will hurt them biggly if Trump wins, but know they will still compete on the merits even if there is no endorsement or an endorsement of Trump. Maybe Merrick should look into this as being a potential shady deal. Nah, forget it.

Not exactly democracy in action... (none / 0) (#13)
by desertswine on Sun Oct 27, 2024 at 01:13:30 PM EST

Trump met with Blue Origin chief executive officer David Limp and vice-president of government relations Megan Mitchell, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, CNN reported that the Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, had also recently reached out to speak with the former president by phone.


: Just in case (none / 0) (#14)
by CaptHowdy on Sun Oct 27, 2024 at 02:25:16 PM EST

He pulls off a coup

Reporting in today's (October 30) (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by KeysDan on Wed Oct 30, 2024 at 11:22:40 AM EST

WaPo by courageous WaPo reporters, reveals the astonishing and brazen extent to which Trump has threatened Amazon and that Bezos appears to have succumbed to Trump's shakedowns.

Last August, the new CEO of Amazon sought to establish "friendlier rapport" with the former president, introducing himself in a phone call and outlining the company's future plans. The call concluded with Trump suggesting that the company cut a large check for his presidential efforts says that he would win and it would be in the company's best interests. It was not clear if a "donation" was made.

After Trump's ear was grazed in an assassination attempt, Bezos called Trump, to say how impressed he was that he raised his fist in defiance.

Even Pence (now St. Pence). His chief of staff called Blue Origin, Bezos' rocket company, to put them on notice that they had "a Washington Post problem", referring to a negative editorial reporting on a Pence speech, questioning the space effort as "political theater".

Unless the wording of the story was careless (5.00 / 1) (#17)
by Peter G on Wed Oct 30, 2024 at 02:39:55 PM EST

soliciting a federal campaign contribution from a corporation is illegal, as corporations are barred from contributing. However, corporations can donate to a PAC (or even create one), per Citizens United, so it is possible that is what the reporter was trying to say. Regardless, however, suggesting that a campaign contribution would be tied to a "quid pro quo" official act is a federal crime of bribery.


: The Washington Post (5.00 / 2) (#19)
by KeysDan on Wed Oct 30, 2024 at 04:40:21 PM EST

story (For Jeff Bezos and His Businesses, Washington is More Important, Oct 30) does seem describe an unlawful solicitation.
How can readers have faith in the WaPo reporting? Being a willing/unwilling partner to a Trump shakedown undermines the credibility of news reporting and editorial opinion. Blackmailers tend to up the ante, there will always be a question of free and fair reporting or the obligatory copying of Trump hand-outs.
Bezos needs to sell/donate the WaPo.

This is what a "Newspaper" (5.00 / 2) (#18)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Oct 30, 2024 at 03:26:55 PM EST

should be doing

Donald Trump's cognitive decline becoming a troubling concern

He shambles about aimlessly, slurs his words and sometimes speaks gibberish. Always an effortless liar, now that his speeches are nothing more than a series of lies tangled in a mass inside his head, it appears he no longer even knows he's lying..."
"With Trump's fragility comes an increasing dependence on enablers who show a disturbing willingness to indulge his delusions, amplify his paranoia or steer his feeble mind toward their own goals. Among these enablers is his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. Should Trump be deemed unfit to serve, Vance would step into power."

I never took endorsements seriously.
Report the truth. I'll pay for that.

Shame on you, (none / 0) (#3)
by Zorba on Sat Oct 26, 2024 at 03:38:12 PM EST

Bezos.
Kay Graham is rolling over in her grave.

Did Tr*mp have Bezos's (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by Peter G on Sat Oct 26, 2024 at 04:16:31 PM EST

"t*t in a wringer"?


: Oh, I remember those days (none / 0) (#11)
by Zorba on Sun Oct 27, 2024 at 10:18:30 AM EST

Unfortunately.
Or maybe fortunately- there are too few of us left who remember those days, apparently.
But there are people my age who still think Watergate was a set-up against Nixon.