On Friday, journalists’ guilds at both The Washington Post and LA Times condemned their papers’ refusal to endorse a candidate and the interventions of their wealthy owners.
The Post’s guild, or union, said readers were cancelling subscriptions. “This decision undercuts the work of our members at a time when we should be building our readers’ trust, not losing it.”
Separately, 11 of the paper’s columnists signed a note calling the decision a “terrible mistake” that abandoned fundamental editorial convictions about democratic values and the rule of law.
“An independent newspaper might someday choose to back away from making presidential endorsements. But this isn’t the right moment, when one candidate is advocating positions that directly threaten freedom of the press and the values of the Constitution,” they said.
LA Times staff penned an open letter to Soon-Shiong calling on the paper to explain its decision to readers. “Whether the newspaper endorses a candidate is ultimately the owner’s prerogative,” it said. “However, the process must be clear and transparent to readers.”
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It is generally recognised that endorsements from legacy media brands do not change votes, especially compared to those from pop megastars such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, both of whom have backed Harris.
But the newspapers’ decisions to stay neutral, and how they were made, will likely have a lasting effect beyond the resignation of senior staff. The Post quoted former executive editor Martin Baron, who held the role under the Trump presidency, saying the decision was cowardly and “a moment of darkness”.
“Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate [Bezos] and other media owners,” Baron wrote. “History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”
Writing in The Guardian, former The New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan said readers were entitled to conclude the papers had been intimidated. “This is no moment to stand at the sidelines – shrugging, speechless and self-interested,” she said.
Meanwhile, other major US media brands have chosen to endorse Trump, including the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post, whose front page on Friday was dedicated to backing the former president’s return to office.
The tabloid, often said to be Murdoch’s favourite of his newspapers, abandoned Trump two years ago over the January 6 riots, saying he was “unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again”. In the 2022 midterm elections, it said his “terrible” MAGA candidates were dragging the Republican Party down.
But Friday’s endorsement said the “ridiculously hyperbolic” Trump was what the country needed, praising him for delivering higher wages, lower unemployment and secure borders during his first term before the pandemic.
By contrast, The New York Times endorsed Harris in late September in a blistering editorial that said Trump had proved himself morally and temperamentally unfit for office.
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