More than 250,000 Washington Post readers have canceled their subscriptions since the newspaper announced last week it would not make an endorsement in the presidential race, leading to a “huge spike” in cancelations, the Post reported late Tuesday.In the wake of Lewis’ announcement that the Post would break with decades-long tradition and not endorse in the race — coming less than two weeks before Election Day — readers immediately began to revolt over the move, with high-profile figures and former staffers posting on social media that they had cancelled their subscriptions. The Post reported it began seeing a surge in cancelations within hours of the announcement.
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Readers and former Post staffers, including former executive editor Marty Baron, have labeled the decision as “craven” and “cowardly,” seeing the move as an attempt by billionaire Post owner Jeff Bezos as an attempt to pre-emptively bend the knee to a possible second Trump administration. A person with knowledge of the matter told CNN that an endorsement of Harris had been drafted by the Post’s editorial board members before it was quashed by Bezos.
The Los Angeles Times, which had also drafted an endorsement of Harris’ White House bid before it was vetoed by the paper’s billionaire owner, announced last week that it would not publish its endorsement.
