[2024 미국 대선 D-8]
“Business owner Bezos blocks support for Harris”
The management of the LA Times also put the brakes on
The Washington Post (WP), a leading daily newspaper that has expressed support for a specific candidate in every presidential election since the 1976 U.S. presidential election, announced on the 25th (local time) that it will “not declare support for a specific candidate” from this year’s presidential election. Although the WP editorial board prepared support for Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris, speculations are being raised that this decision was made under the direction of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. WP revealed the internal decision-making process in an article that day, saying, “A draft editorial declaring support for candidate Harris was written, but it was not published, and Bezos, the instigator, made this decision.” WP deputy editor Bob Woodward, famous for his ‘Watergate’ scoop, issued a public statement saying he was “surprised and disappointed” by the decision.
WP editor and CEO William Lewis announced on the website on the 25th, “We will return to WP’s roots of not supporting specific candidates.” WP has publicly supported Democratic candidates in every presidential election since the 1976 presidential election except 1988. During the 1988 presidential election, he said that he would not support either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, saying that the Democratic presidential candidate at the time, Michael Dukakis, “has serious flaws in carrying out the duties of President.”
After CEO Lewis’ announcement, WP senior reporter Robert Kagan resigned from the staff in protest against the decision. He said, “It is an act of preemptively bowing down to someone who is likely to win (candidate Donald Trump),” and “A person who is part of the American economy, like Bezos, clearly wants to have a good relationship with someone in power. “It’s an attempt to avoid being on the side other than Trump,” he criticized.
However, CEO Lewis denied that Bezos was involved in this decision. He said in a statement, “Reports surrounding WP owner (Bezos) and his decision not to declare support for the president are inaccurate,” and “Bezos did not receive the draft (regarding this decision) or provide an opinion.”
Meanwhile, a similar thing happened at the Los Angeles Times, the largest newspaper in California, which has strong support for the Democratic Party. Mariel Garza, editor-in-chief of the LA Times, resigned on the 23rd after executives, including Chinese biotechnology entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong, refused to publicly support candidate Harris. As the U.S. presidential election on the 5th of next month moves in favor of Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump, there is an interpretation that executives at major media companies have begun to distance themselves from candidate Harris.
Reporter Choi Ji-seon aurinko@donga.com