Washington Post loses over 200,000 after Jeff Bezos declines to allow outlet to endorse Kamala Harris

Subscribers are leaving The Washington Post en masse as over 200,000 have canceled since the paper decided not to endorse Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris – or anyone else. By Monday afternoon, the cancellations had amounted to 8 percent of the paper’s paid circulation of approximately 250,000, NPR reported. Owner Jeff Bezos penned a defense of the decision in the outlet.

“It’s a colossal number,” former Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, told NPR. “The problem is, people don’t know why the decision was made. We basically know the decision was made but we don’t know what led to it.”

The Post’s Chief Executive and Publisher Will Lewis on Friday attempted to explain the non-endorsement by reminding readers that the publication is supposed to be an “independent paper.”

Washington Post owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos spoke out Monday about the decision, referencing the low opinion that many Americans have for the mainstream media, which he argued has "managed to fall below Congress. Our profession is now the least trusted of all." Bezos also put out a call this week that The Post is looking to hire more conservative columnists at the left-of-center media outlet.

But reportedly, the cover story of journalistic autonomy hasn’t been embraced by current or former Post staff. Former Executive Editor Marty Baron told NPR that the timing – so near Election Day – is suspect.

"If this decision had been made three years ago, two years ago, maybe even a year ago, that would've been fine," Baron said. "It's certainly a reasonable decision. But this was made within a couple of weeks of the election, and there was no substantive serious deliberation with the editorial board of the paper. It was clearly made for other reasons, not for reasons of high principle."

Bezos has also said that the timing has been problematic. "That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy," he wrote, NPR noted.

In an op ed, The Atlantic suggested people who are furious over The Post not endorsing Harris should target Bezos’ Amazon empire and drop their Prime membership. It accused Bezos of freezing any endorsement because he is considering the possibility of former President Donald Trump winning on Nov. 5.