Jeff Bezos wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post doubling down on his decision not to endorse any presidential candidate for this year’s election. Bezos owns quite a few businesses, including Amazon and The Washington Post. WaPo employees internally planned to endorse Kamala Harris for President. Everything was set to go live until Bezos caught wind of it and stopped it from happening. The internal reaction was swift and severe. At least two editors stepped down from the board.
Over 200,000 digital subscribers canceled. If each subscriber paid their $20 fee, that equates to $4,000,000 of lost revenue monthly. The dollar amount probably doesn’t matter to Bezos as much as the integrity of the Washington Post. In his op-ed, Bezos stated that Americans do not trust the media.
An annual poll showing the public’s trust in certain institutions usually always places Congres dead last, with the press right above it. Now, that same poll has the media polling dead last. Such a thing should be of no surprise, considering how many times mainstream news outlets have been caught outright lying or fueling propaganda and conspiracy theories.
Bezos complained about the rise of podcasts and unverified social media accounts that spread news, much of which can be fake. His goal is to regain the people’s trust instead of preaching to the elite, who probably unsubscribed over the lack of a Kamala Harris endorsement from the Washington Post.
SOURCES:
Opinion | Jeff Bezos: The hard truth: Americans don’t trust the news media – The Washington Post
Jeff Bezos Responds To Backlash Over Post’s Non-Endorsement | HuffPost Latest News
‘Washington Post’ flooded by cancellations after Bezos’ non-endorsement decision : NPR
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos defends decision not to endorse – YouTube
