New Delhi:
In a rare public defence of his recent decision to pull The Washington Post from endorsing a candidate in the upcoming presidential race, Amazon founder and newspaper owner Jeff Bezos took to the paper’s own editorial page to argue for neutrality.
Through an op-ed published late Monday, Mr Bezos, in his first comments since the decision triggered backlash, said that dropping political endorsements is the right course of action for The Post, calling it a step towards more independent and objective journalism.
“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” wrote Mr Bezos. “No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, ‘I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.’ None. What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”
The decision, however, has been controversial, leading to a storm of dissent within The Post. Hours after the op-ed was published, three members of the editorial board, who reportedly advocated for an endorsement, tendered their resignations. The fallout also extended to the paper’s readership, with over 200,000 subscribers cancelling their subscriptions in protest.
Mr Bezos addressed these concerns in the op-ed, acknowledging that the timing was “inadequate” but denying that it was a strategic decision. “I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it,” he wrote.
Adding to the controversy were reports of an alleged meeting between former President Donald Trump and executives from Blue Origin, Mr Bezos’s space company. The timing of this meeting, which occurred soon after The Post’s announcement, prompted accusations that M Bezos’s decision might have been part of an effort to curry favour with Mr Trump ahead of the election.
The Amazon chief, however, refuted this allegation, claiming there was no communication between The Post and either political campaign regarding the decision to withhold an endorsement. He categorically denied any political manoeuvring, stating, “I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here. Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision. It was made entirely internally.”
According to Mr Bezos, he had no prior knowledge of the meeting between Trump and Blue Origin executives, and he admitted feeling exasperated upon learning about it. “I sighed,” he wrote, “because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision. But the fact is, I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand.”
Mr Bezos admitted that his overlapping interests – between Amazon, Blue Origin, and The Post – do at times create a challenging “appearance of conflict.” He explained, however, that while his vast wealth places him in a position of significant power, it is also a “bulwark against intimidation,” shielding The Post from outside pressures.
“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,” Mr Bezos wrote.