Since announcing last Friday that it would not endorse a presidential candidate in the US election, The Washington Post has lost approximately 250,000 subscribers, a significant 10 percent drop in its digital readership, according to sources cited by the paper.
Though the Post did not confirm the figure, calling it “private,” sources said that subscription cancellations mushroomed after the newspaper’s decision to withhold an endorsement for the first time since the 1980s, a rare move that not only precipitated strong reader backlash but prompted resignations among its editorial staff.
With the editorial staff having drafted an endorsement of Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris poised to be approved by its board, the Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos, made the unilateral decision not to endorse any candidate. He defended the decision, arguing that endorsements can create “perceptions of bias without significantly impacting voter choices,” although he “regretted” the timing so close to Election Day.
Jon Marshall, a journalism historian, observed that the public’s response was largely unprecedented. He said it is comparable only to the backlash received by the Arkansas Gazette some 70 years ago in 1957 when it endorsed school integration, a statement that cost the newspaper millions.
Poynter Institute analyst Rick Edmonds described the Post’s massive loss of subscribers as “very bad.” However, he suggested that because subscribers who have already paid for a year will keep electronic access to the paper until their subscriptions expire, that may potentially soften the impact. Others may return post-election.
The Post’s readership grew during Donald Trump’s presidency, bolstered by its somewhat critical coverage, which could repeat if he is re-elected, Edmonds said.
Bezos, who is not only the owner of the Post, whose slogan ironically is “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” but the owner of Amazon, may have feared something more risky had the newspaper not gone dark on an endorsement.
Robert Kagan, an opinion editor-at-large at the Post who resigned Friday in protest after the announcement, said Bezos made the decision to appease Trump.
“This is obviously an effort by Jeff Bezos to curry favor with Donald Trump in the anticipation of his possible victory,” Robert Kagan told CNN. “Trump has threatened to go after Bezos’ business. Bezos runs one of the largest companies in America. They have tremendously intricate relations with the federal government. They depend on the federal government.”
Trump has routinely called the free press “the enemy of the people.” Marty Baron, the Post’s former executive editor, suggested that Bezos’ capitulation bodes something far more sinister, warning about the impact on democracy.
“This is cowardice, with democracy as its casualty. Donald Trump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner Bezos (and others),” Baron wrote in a social media post. “Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”