WASHINGTON, Oct 26 – For the first time since 1988, the Washington Post will not endorse a US presidential candidate, and will not be making such endorsements in the future, the paper’s publisher, William Lewis announced in a story published on Friday, the German news agency (dpa) reported.
Reporters from the Washington Post reported the paper’s owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, made the decision.
Endorsements can be important for voters, especially those who are undecided, and US newspapers have a tradition of backing a candidate.
An endorsement for Democrat Kamala Harris had already been written in the newspaper’s editorial office, the story said, citing anonymous sources. The race between Harris and Republican Donald Trump is extremely close according to the latest polls.
Lewis argued that the newspaper must be independent and leave it to readers to form their own opinions. He noted that the paper only started making endorsements in 1976. Since then the only time it failed to endorse was in the 1988 presidential election between Republican George HW Bush and Democrat Michael Dukakis. Since then it has only endorsed Democrats.
Bezos bought the newspaper, which broke the Watergate story, that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. The newspaper’s stories have often drawn Trump’s wrath in recent years, and at times he has also hinted that he could take on Amazon. Bezos also owns the space company Blue Origin, which is interested in government contracts.
