The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post both declined to endorse a candidate for president this year. For the Post, it was the first time since 1976 that the paper did not give an endorsement.
There was immediate backlash. Twenty current Washington Post columnists responded to the newspaper’s decision. And former editor-in-chief Marty Baron posted on X that the decision “is cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.” Baron, who retired from The Washington Post in 2021, said it would be an invitation for former President Donald Trump to continue intimidating Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos.
“I think Jeff Bezos didn’t show courage here. I think that he has yielded to the pressure from Donald Trump, finally,” Baron told Boston Public Radio on Monday. “It’s disappointing because during my entire time there, [Bezos] resisted this kind of pressure and he stood up for us.”
He thinks the Post’s decision was likely influenced by Trump’s rhetoric focused on revenge and threats toward opponents if he is elected for a second term.
“[Trump] has spoken quite openly about exacting vengeance on a variety of people, and he’s always perceived Bezos as an enemy because of his ownership of The Washington Post and his distaste for the coverage of The Washington Post,” Baron said.
He explained that Bezos is in an interesting position as the chief executive of Amazon and owner of the Blue Origin aerospace company, both of which have contracts with the federal government.
But Bezos is also the owner of a newspaper. And not just any paper: The Washington Post, which has written on its office wall “The newspaper’s duty is to its readers and to the public at large and not to the private interests of its owners.”
“So somehow he’s got to navigate that,” Baron said. “And right now, he seems to be trying to navigate it by showing weakness of The Washington Post, and that’s unfortunate.”
Despite his current critiques, Baron said he never saw evidence of Bezos interfering with the Post’s news coverage during his time there. He said Bezos had meetings with the editorial page editor, but that is not unusual for a newspaper.
“He showed enormous spine and integrity in defending our work and not yielding to pressure from Donald Trump,” Baron said, adding that he sees no evidence in the Post’s news coverage that has changed in the years since.
However, Baron fears the decision to not endorse a presidential candidate may damage the Post’s reputation of being outside Bezos’ influence.
“People might have greater suspicions today,” he said.
