Bezos Defends Endorsement Decision

Jeff Bezos defended the Washington Post’s decision not to back a presidential candidate, saying endorsements “create a perception of bias” in an op-ed Monday on the newspaper’s website. 

Bezos, who owns the newspaper, emphasized the importance of independence in media and repairing trust that has been broken between the American people and newspapers. Presidential endorsements “do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” he wrote. 

He admitted to the misstep of the decision’s timing. “I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it,” he wrote. “That was inadequate planning and not some intentional strategy.”  

Bezos also defended his record of integrity as the paper’s owner, despite the appearance of conflict. 

“When it comes to the appearance of conflict I am not an ideal owner of the Post,” he wrote. “Every day, somewhere, some Amazon executive or Blue Origin executive or someone from the other philanthropies and companies I own or invest in is meeting with government officials.”  

The Wall Street Journal reports the Bezos’ op-ed appeared after the paper’s opinion chief told staff earlier Monday that he had warned the owner about the perils of not endorsing a presidential candidate. The comments came as the newspaper struggles to contain subscriber losses.