Regarding the withdrawal of the Washington Post (WP), a leading American daily newspaper, from its editorial supporting the presidential candidate, on the 28th (local time), Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, directly stated his position, saying, “It is a measure to increase trust in the media.”
Bezos explained the reason for not declaring support through a contribution titled ‘An Inconvenient Truth: Americans Do Not Trust the News Media’. He said that the media’s declaration of support for the presidential election “does nothing to upset the balance of the election,” and that it was a decision made to restore trust in the media.
WP, which had expressed support for a specific candidate in each presidential election since the 1976 U.S. presidential election, declared on the 25th that it would “not support any candidate” without any background explanation, sparking controversy both inside and outside the country. In particular, suspicions have arisen that Bezos may have exerted internal pressure on US Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump.
In response, Bezos drew the line at political interpretation, saying, “There was no compensation of any kind.” He said, “Most people believe that the media is biased,” and argued that the media itself must work to restore trust. He continued, “Refusing to support a presidential candidate alone cannot significantly increase credibility, but it is a meaningful step in the right direction,” adding, “We (the media) continue to lose credibility and our influence is declining by blaming others.” “It’s easy, but victim mentality is not helpful, and complaining is not a strategy,” he pointed out.
However, the opposition within the WP does not appear to be subsiding easily. The U.S. public broadcaster NPR reported on this day, citing two WP employees, that more than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by noon on the 28th. This represents approximately 8% of the total paid subscribers of 2.5 million. “It’s a huge number, but the problem is that people don’t know why these decisions were made,” said former WP editor-in-chief Marcus Brauchley.
In addition, the New York Times (NYT) reported that three veterans, including Pulitzer Prize winner David Hoffman, who had worked at WP since 1982, also resigned from their editorial positions on the 28th. They protested and condemned the company’s decision, saying, “It is unacceptable and completely unacceptable that we have lost our voice at this dangerous moment.”
Reporter Yunjin Kim [email protected]
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