In late September, Kamala Harris received two prominent print-media endorsements from The New Yorker and the New York Times. The New Yorker had an artist create a beautiful cover with Kamala Harris and the magazine really leaned into their endorsement in a big way. The NY Times’ endorsement was buried, like they didn’t even want people to see it. In the year of our lord Beyonce 2024, do newspaper and magazine endorsements really carry that much weight? I don’t think a newspaper endorsement will change hearts and minds, but that being said, any media outlet explicitly endorsing Donald Trump in this or the previous two presidential elections is basically not a serious outlet and the people who work there are not serious journalists.
Why are we talking about newspaper endorsements so close to the election? Because two of the country’s most prominent newspapers have not endorsed. The LA Times was oddly silent until this week, when Mariel Garza, the editorials editor of the LA Times, resigned on the 23rd. Why did she resign? Because the LA Times’ owner Patrick Soon-Shiong ordered the editors and journalists to skip the presidential endorsement. They had their Harris endorsement locked and loaded but Soon-Shiong is friendly with Elon Musk and Donald Trump. So no endorsement happened, and the newsroom is in chaos. Which brings up another suspiciously quiet billionaire newspaper owner: Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post. Bezos is not super-friendly with Trump or Musk, and yet… it does feel like Bezos is up to his neck in shenanigans. Speaking of, Status had this item:
Why hasn’t The Washington Post made an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race? It’s a question, I’m told, that is being discussed amongst some staffers at the Jeff Bezos-owned and Will Lewis-led newspaper. With less than two weeks until Election Day, and with millions of votes already cast, The Post has remained conspicuously silent on one of the highest-stakes contests in recent memory.
That silence is sure to be magnified in the wake of the brewing situation over on the west coast, where Los Angeles Times editorials editor Mariel Garza shockingly — but admirably — resigned Wednesday in protest of billionaire owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong blocking the newspaper from making an endorsement in the race.
It is not as if these newspapers have a particularly difficult decision before them. On one side is an Adolf Hitler-praising autocratic-wannabe who has vowed to seek retribution against his perceived enemies, should he find himself back in the Oval Office. On the other side is a relatively run-of-the-mill Democratic politician who respects the rule of law and American democratic order.
NPR is covering this situation with WaPo and the LAT similarly and suggesting that the modern press barons simply want to hedge their bets in case Trump wins and they need government contracts or broadcasting licenses (in NBC’s case). But I think the situation with WaPo is probably less about Jeff Bezos and more about the British a–hole he hired to run the Post: Will Lewis, who was one of Rupert Murdoch’s golden boys at the Times of London and the Wall Street Journal. I absolutely believe that Will Lewis is compromised to the point where he too is arguing that WaPo should make way for another Trump presidency.
Update: WaPo has announced that they will not endorse anyone for president. Disgusting.
LA Magazine just endorsed VP Harris yesterday!
LATEST: Los Angeles Magazine is proud to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States. Harris embodies the values that make our city great: diversity, positivity, and progress.
Our decision was clear.https://t.co/ACJFihOzh9
— Los Angeles Magazine (@LAmag) October 24, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – NOVEMBER 06: American entrepreneur/founder and executive chairman of Amazon.com Jeff Bezos and girlfriend/American news anchor Lauren Sanchez arrive at the 10th Annual LACMA Art + Film Gala 2021 held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on November 6, 2021 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 642001323, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Xavier Collin / Avalon
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- WEST HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – NOVEMBER 13: American entrepreneur/founder and executive chairman of Amazon.com Jeff Bezos and girlfriend/American news anchor Lauren Sanchez arrive at the Baby2Baby 10-Year Gala 2021 held at the Pacific Design Center on November 13, 2021 in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 643097197, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Avalon
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- Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez attend the World premiere of “The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power” in Leicester Square, London.,Image: 718129914, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Ana M. Wiggins / Avalon
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- Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez at The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power World Premiere at Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom.,Image: 718168243, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: To licence this image, email info@sidetrack.london for more information., Model Release: no, Credit line: Cat Morley / Avalon
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- BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 10: (L-R) Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos attend the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 10, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California.,Image: 856437431, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Lauren Sánchez, Jeff Bezos, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
They want Trump in power to save money and also they hate how “woke” American has become. I am glad even more people resigned from the LA times. The owner’s defense of the whole thing (he tweeted it) just flat out showed biased and how much he wanted them to endorse Trump. It was gross to demand a comparison of both candidates and “leave” it to the reader to decide.
My friend was a former reporter and said there’s currently a war going on between writers and editorial boards. The boards are run by right wing Republicans with rich backers. The actual writers are mostly left leaning overall but are restricted from actually publishing their real opinions. The moment the wealthy started buying up the big papers, we were done for.
I’m glad these concerns are getting talked about more. I think that many people who have long respected and even trusted news sources like the Washington Post, the NYT, Newsweek… don’t realize how much these formerly news sources of record have changed.
Katharine Graham would not recognize— and would be horrified by — what the Washington Post has now become.
Eh. Graham was a rich owner, too, who didn’t respect the newspaper unions.
These billionaires do not care about ANYTHING but their money. Nothing else matters to them and they will happily allow the non-billionaire class to rot. Bezos wasn’t even loyal to his wife so why would be loyal to his country and his fellow citizens? She is going to win; we can make it a landslide if we keep our foot on the gas. Volunteer if you can 👇🏾
https://kamalaharris.com/work-with-us/
Love your comments.
🫶🏾
🎯
Probably for the same reason that the LA times is having editor step down daily, conflict between journalist and owners. Two more people have stepped down in the past few days and we all know that the reason that British media implant at Washington Post had to step back was because of a mutiny on the floor. These oligarchs are hedging their bets because at the end of the day if Kamala Harris wins she will not go after them like a dictator, and if Trump wins he absolutely will.
Just saw on twitter that Washington Post won’t endorse a presidential candidate this year.
See my comment above. This is due to these oligarchical owners, and right-wing editors. They’re going to see an exodus of their staff like the LA times is seeing, and they’re going to see a drop in subscriptions like the New York times has already complained about. I canceled my Washington Post subscription earlier this year for that exact reason.
It’s a pretty simple choice: Do you want 1) a piece of crap 💩 , or 2) a qualified intelligent woman who’s spent her entire career as a civil servant?
Counting on you America!
Autocracy vs. democracy (however flawed).
The choice could not be clearer.
huge chunks of Americans do not want a woman, esp not a woman of color, for reasons many of them cannot even admit to themselves. it is shameful.
I grew up in DC and though i haven’t lived there in decades, i’ve been a subscriber to the Washington Post for year.
I cancelled this fall.
They are no longer a real news organization.
These billionaires think they’re going to get a Russian-style kleptocracy with their buddy DT back in power. No one’s gonna seize their businesses and push them out a window! They’ll find out.
I see their lack of endorsement as fear of Trump retribution. How many times has he threatened the media? Now he is saying he will use the military on his domestic enemies?? I think they are as afraid as we are…but their job is to report, not hide.
Bezos has multiple federal contracts. That’s why he hired Lewis who is doing his bidding on this. As someone tweeted, democracy dies in cowardice.
What are some great places to get news (now that I’m not going to read wapo anymore and already stopped reading NYT)?
I actually listen to independent media sources like MediasTouch, Brian Tyler Cohen, David Pakman, Kyle Kulinski (of Secular Talk), The Bulwark, Luke Beasley and some others I am probably forgetting lol. All free of corporate interests and are funded by their listeners.
The Guardian & AP News are still independent reliable news sources.
I’m upset about this! If a newspaper has a tradition, a decades-long tradition of voicing its support for one candidate or the other, and then when faced with a fascist, mentally unstable old weirdo or a rules-abiding, intelligent, normal politician decides not to endorse either, it appears that they are against the normal candidate! Democracy does die in darkness. I hope Bezos and Lewis are made to rue this decision!
Kleptocracy in the making, disgusting and terrifying all at once. No limit to the Billionaire grift and jockeying to usurp more wealth and power, these are dangerous times. Washington Post and Bezos can go to hell. Marty Baron said it best “this is cowardice, with democracy as it’s casualty”. Organize, mobilize, for those who can time to turn out the vote for Kamala. Kamala’s administration and government agencies must protect our future from these soulless jackals stripping US for their gain.
WaPo wanted to endorse Harris. Bezos turned thumbs down because he’s afraid of Trump. Last election Trump wasn’t endorsed by WaPo and Besos was punished financially when Trump won.