10 months ago
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(The Hill) -- A determination by The Washington Post to not endorse a campaigner for president successful adjacent week's predetermination is sparking vocal protests and resignations from immoderate staffers.
Post steadfast and CEO William Lewis announced Friday that the Post would not beryllium making an endorsement, a determination that has angered staffers and stoked fears astir the newspaper's editorial independence.
The Post itself reported hours aboriginal that Jeff Bezos, the billionaire laminitis of Amazon who owns the newspaper, personally made the determination not to tally an endorsement aft the Post's editorial committee had already drafted its endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.
The archetypal protestation was from Post exertion Robert Kagan, who told the quality outlet Semafor helium would measurement down from the publication.
On Monday, Molly Roberts, a subordinate of the Post's editorial board, said she was besides stepping down due to the fact that "the imperative to endorse Kamala Harris implicit Donald Trump is astir arsenic morally wide arsenic it gets."
"Worse, our soundlessness is precisely what Donald Trump wants," Roberts wrote successful a statement. "For the media, for us, to support quiet."
A 3rd staffer, David Hoffman, a Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist, wrote successful a enactment to his editors obtained by The New York Times that helium was stepping down from the Post's editorial committee but would stay astatine the newspaper.
“While leaving the board, I garbage to springiness up connected The Post, wherever I person spent 42 years," helium wrote.
In his announcement connected Friday, Lewis acknowledged the determination to not endorse a statesmanlike campaigner for the archetypal clip successful much than 30 years was apt to person blowback.
“We admit that this volition beryllium work successful a scope of ways, including arsenic a tacit endorsement of 1 candidate, oregon arsenic a condemnation of another, oregon arsenic an abdication of responsibility,” the newspaper's steadfast wrote. “That is inevitable. We don’t spot it that way. We spot it arsenic accordant with the values The Post has ever stood for.”
