Jeff Bezos doubles down on unprecedented block of a presidential endorsement from ‘The Washington Post’ but admits ‘I am not an ideal owner’
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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos might not allow The Washington Post to run its traditional endorsement of a presidential candidate, but he’s willing to pen and run an op-ed justifying his move. It’s all in the name of keeping the media unbiased, Jeff Bezos insists.
Last Friday, the Post announced it was not endorsing a candidate in the upcoming election, which has been deemed by some to be one of the closest in America’s modern history. Sources said two Post writers produced an article that endorsed Kamala Harris, but the story was killed by Bezos, the outlet’s billionaire owner.
Facing backlash, Bezos is standing by his words. But Bezos’ op-ed indicates this is a change of policy for future elections. On the topic of endorsements, he said “ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.” He called his decision “a meaningful step in the right direction” when it comes to regaining the trust of readers amidst disillusionment with the sector in general.
Bezos defends himself, but admits some missteps
Citing Gallup's data regarding slipping belief in institutions including the media, Bezos wrote “our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working.” Despite being the owner of the Post since 2013, Bezos made his wealth and spent most of his career in the tech sector where he founded Amazon. Amazon did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
“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,” Bezos wrote. “Complaining is not a strategy.” Going on to claim that “presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” Bezos said all they do is “create a perception of bias.”
Research from professors at Brown University shows that said endorsements are actually pretty influential “in the sense that voters are more likely to support the recommended candidate after publication of the endorsement.” But influence varies based on one’s bias.
Even Bezos admits the timing is a little off, as the election is only two weeks away from when the decision was announced. Calling the move “inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy,” he insists there’s “no quid pro quo of any kind at work here.” That’s all despite Dave Limp, chief executive at Bezos’ Blue Origin, meeting with Republican candidate Donald Trump the day of the announcement.
Bezos said he didn’t know about the meeting beforehand, and implored people to trust him. Calling upon his track record at the Post, Bezos said his views are “principled.”