The Washington Post won’t make an endorsement for president in the general election, a first for the storied newspaper since 1988.
“The Washington Post will not be making any endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election,” the paper’s publisher, William Lewis, said in an opinion piece published Friday.
“We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.
“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility,” he added.
“That is inevitable. We don’t see it that way. ... Our job at The Washington Post is to provide through the newsroom nonpartisan news for all Americans, and thought-provoking, reported views from our opinion team to help our readers make up their own minds.”
Former Post executive editor Marty Baron, who retired in 2021, called it "cowardice with democracy as its casualty."
"Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage," Baron said in a post to X.
The announcement comes less than two days after the head of the Los Angeles Times’ editorial board resigned after the paper’s owner squashed a presidential endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. The Times had endorsed a Democrat for president in every election cycle since 2008.
Several editors have since quit the Times since Patrick Soon-Shiong, the paper’s billionaire owner, blocked the endorsement.
In an interview with Columbia Journalism Review, former L.A. Times editorials editor Mariel Garza said she quit because “I want to make it clear that I am not OK with us being silent. In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”