Jeff Bezos defends decision to end Washington Post endorsements
GuardianOct 23
Washington Post Cancellations Reach 250K, 10% of Digital Subscribers
Above: The Washington Post office in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. Image copyright: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Facts
NPR's David Folkenflik has reported that The Washington Post has lost over 250K subscribers, approximately 10% of its digital readership, since the news outlet chose not to endorse a 2024 US presidential candidate last week.
In January 2021, The Post had a peak digital readership of 3M, before declining to approximately 2.5M prior to the announcement to no longer endorse a presidential candidate.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
Jeff Bezos's cowardly decision is receiving the backlash it deserves. With 250K and counting already unsubscribed, the incredibly unpopular choice (both publicly and internally) to no longer endorse a presidential candidate raises questions concerning Bezos and publisher Will Lewis's judgement and integrity. Readers seek to engage in opinion and support voices that fight for what they believe in, a concept that the paper has fundamentally misunderstood at their own expense.
Pro-establishment narrative
While the timing of Bezos's decision — less than two weeks out from an election — may have been poorly planned, the decision to move The Post away from making presidential endorsements is certainly the right one. With low trust in media fueling an existential crisis for the industry, the paper is enduring short-term pain in order to fulfill a long-term ambition of expanding its credibility and readership across the political spectrum.