Over 200,000 people canceled their digital subscriptions to the Washington Post by Monday afternoon. This happened after the newspaper decided not to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president, according to National Public Radio (NPR).
Although not all cancellations take effect immediately, this number represents about 8% of the paper’s total paid circulation of 2.5 million, which includes print subscriptions.
Additionally, several columnists have resigned from the Washington Post, which is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos. When contacted by Reuters, the Washington Post chose not to comment on the situation.
On Friday, William Lewis, the publisher and CEO of the Washington Post, announced that the newspaper will not endorse any presidential candidates for the upcoming election on November 5 or in future elections. He stated, “We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”
However, 20 columnists expressed their disagreement with this decision in an opinion piece on the Post’s website.
They called it a “terrible mistake” and said it “represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love”【Reuters】.