The Washington Post

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[[File:The Logo of The Washington Post Newspaper.svg|thumb|165px|In case you haven't guessed, this is their logo.]]
{{media}}
'''''The Washington Post''''', depending on who you ask, is either [[red-baiting|commie]] trash, a [[neoconservative]] rag desperately trying to outflank the rival (and [[paleoconservative]]) ''[[Washington Times]]'' from the right, the epitome of the worst excesses of the [[liberal media]], [[Jeff Bezos]]'s mouthpiece with its weird fact checks<ref>[https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/bernie-sanders-bad-fact-checking/ Democracy Dies From Bad Fact-Checking] ''The Nation'' 3 September 2019</ref><ref>[https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-washington-post-retract-fact-check-medical-bill-bankruptcy-2019-8 Bernie Sanders' campaign is demanding that The Washington Post retract a fact-check article that assigned Sanders 3 'Pinocchios'] by Kat Tenbarge (1 September 2019) ''Business Insider''.</ref>{{efn|{{cquote|It all started on Monday, when President Biden accused [[Donald Trump]] of having pledged not to accept the result if he loses in the fall and a reporter at the Washington Post described this as untrue, explaining that Trump “just hasn’t said that he would accept” and “previously said the only way he loses is if the Democrats cheat.” The Post would find itself in the barrel again before the convention was over, as would PolitiFact, which was taken to task for, among other things, asserting that while Trump repeatedly tried to cut Medicare when he was president, he has said that he won’t next time (honest).|||Jon Allsop<ref>[https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/dnc_fact_checking_harris_speech.php "Fact-checking, unburdened by what has been"] by Jon Allsop (August 23, 2024) ''Columbia Journalism Review''.</ref>}}}}{{efn|{{cquote|Ironically, the Washington Post issued a fact check at the top of their own Tuesday fact check. They incorrectly said that the contents of Trump’s letters to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were unknown. In reality, they now acknowledge, parts of the letters were published by their own associate editor [[Bob Woodward]].|||Naomi LaChance<ref>[https://archive.ph/ctYqM "Why Can’t Fact Checkers Handle Donald Trump?"] by Naomi LaChance (August 21, 2024) ''Rolling Stone'' (archived from 21 Aug 2024 19:49:29 UTC).</ref>}}}} and billionaire apologia,<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/taxing-us-billionaires-more-will-just-hurt-the-rest-of-us/2019/10/16/2f9ee828-ef82-11e9-8693-f487e46784aa_story.html Punitive taxes on billionaires are bad politics, bad economics and just plain unfair] ''The Washington Post'' 17 October 2019</ref> or [[America]]'s Newspaper of Record.<sup><small>TM</small></sup><ref group=note>''[[The New York Times]]'' has also been given the label, something they've vehemently disliked.</ref> [[Media Bias/Fact Check]], a more neutral source, classifies The Washington Post as a left-center source, slightly on the left of [[The New York Times]] and the Los Angeles Times, for instance.<ref>[https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/washington-post/ Washington Post] ''Media Bias/Fact Check''/</ref> Since February 2017, a month after the inauguration of [[Donald Trump]], the ''Post'''s new slogan is "[[Democracy]] Dies in Darkness" (although they claim it has nothing to do with Trump).<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-washington-posts-new-slogan-turns-out-to-be-an-old-saying/2017/02/23/cb199cda-fa02-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html The Washington Post’s new slogan turns out to be an old saying] ''The Washington Post'' 24 February 2017</ref>

It is most famous for the role played by two of its reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (made famous in the film ''All the President's Men''), in slowly exposing the [[Watergate]] scandal that led to then-[[United States President|President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]]'s resignation in hoping avoid the shame of imminent [[impeachment]].<ref>[https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/impeachment/resignation-was-not-end Resignation was not the end: Today we assume an official who resigns won't face impeachment or a subsequent trial. That wasn't always the case.] by Bryan Craig, ''Miller Center''.</ref> At the time, the ''Post'' was but one of three competing [[Washington, D.C.]] daily newspapers along with the ''Washington Star'' and the ''Washington Daily News''. Their coverage of the Watergate scandal solidified the ''Post'''s dominance in the D.C. newspaper market and gained the paper national stature. They were bought by Jeff Bezos, the [[asshole]] founder of Amazon, in 2013.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/washington-post-to-be-sold-to-jeff-bezos/2013/08/05/ca537c9e-fe0c-11e2-9711-3708310f6f4d_story.html Washington Post to be sold to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon] ''The Washington Post'' 5 August 2013</ref> At the time of the purchase, Bezos told his employees that he would keep a hands-off approach to [[journalism]] at the paper.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/12/jeff-bezos-washington-post-will-lewis Jeff Bezos once saved the Washington Post. Now he needs to do it again] by Margaret Sullivan (12 Jun 2024 14.55 EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref> Consequently, they also can't afford you looking at the newspaper for free so they helpfully imposed an article limit before hitting the ever-obnoxious paywall as well as bitching about your adblocker and proclaiming they will use your cookies. But, hey, at least the [[2019-20 COVID-19 outbreak|2020 COVID-19 coverage]] was free! To his credit, Bezos actually kept his word until 2024 at least, with The Post including negative reportage on Bezos' original billionaire-making site, Amazon and even negative reportage against Bezos himself.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/10/amazon-library-ebook-monopoly/ Want to borrow that e-book from the library? Sorry, Amazon won’t let you. Its monopoly is stopping public libraries from lending e-books and audiobooks from Mindy Kaling, Dean Koontz, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Trevor Noah, Andy Weir, Michael Pollan and a whole lot more] by Geoffrey A. Fowler (March 10, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EST) ''The Washington Post''.</ref><ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/02/amazon-antitrust-lawsuit-bezos/ Regulators blame Bezos for making Amazon worse in new lawsuit details: Previously redacted portions of the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against Amazon allege Bezos gave the go-ahead to make search results worse in favor of increasing advertising revenue] Caroline O'Donovan (November 2, 2023) ''The Washington Post''.</ref><ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/02/rotterdam-dismantle-part-historic-bridge-so-jeff-bezos-massive-yacht-can-pass-through/ Rotterdam to dismantle part of historic bridge so Jeff Bezos’s massive yacht can pass through] by Miriam Berger (February 2, 2022 at 1:21 p.m. EST) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>

==Subsidiaries==
From 1961 to 2010 the ''Post'' published ''Newsweek'', which was at the time, America's second-largest weekly newsmagazine. ''Newsweek'' then collapsed after WaPo sold it off (admittedly, it was going downhill before then).<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/business/media/03newsweek.html Audio Pioneer Sidney Harman Buys Struggling Newsweek] by Tanzina Vega & Jeremy W. Peters (Aug. 2, 2010) ''The New York Times''.</ref>

In 2004 the ''Post'' purchased ''Slate Magazine'' from [[Microsoft]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150403013359/https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=8200230 Company Overview of Slate Magazine] ''Bloomberg Business'' (archived from April 3, 2015).</ref>

In 1984, the ''Post'''s parent company purchased Kaplan, Inc., a tutoring and educational testing service. In 2000, the ''Post'' bought an online college and renamed it Kaplan College (now Kaplan University). Like most for-profit institutions of higher education, Kaplan U. has become known more for its quest for profit than for its quest for knowledge.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/22/kaplan-university-guerilla-registration_n_799741.html At Kaplan University, 'Guerilla Registration' Leaves Students Deep In Debt: Kaplan University's 'Guerrilla Registration' Forcing Students Into Debt] by Chris Kirkham (Dec 22, 2010, 08:35 AM EST; Updated Dec 6, 2017) ''Huffington Post''.</ref>

==Columnists==
An incomplete list;<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ Opinions (click "Show all Opinion writers" for the full list)] ''The Washington Post''</ref> some notable ''Post'' opinion columnists include:

===Liberal columnists===
{{collist|2|
*Karen Attiah<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/karen-attiah/ Karen Attiah] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*Jonathan Capehart<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jonathan-capehart/ Jonathan Capehart] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*E.J. Dionne, Jr.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/ej-dionne-jr/ E.J. Dionne Jr.'s archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*David Ignatius<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/david-ignatius/ David Ignatius' archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*Ruth Marcus<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/ruth-marcus/ Ruth Marcus' archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*Dana Milbank (author of ''Tears of a Clown'', an anti-[[Glenn Beck]] book)<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/dana-milbank/ Dana Milbank's archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*Steven Pearlstein ([[business]] columnist)
*Alexandra Petri wrote a humor column, often politically oriented<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/alexandra-petri/ Alexandra Petri] ''The Washington Post''.</ref> She fled ''The Post'' for ''The Atlantic'' in 2025.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/author/alexandra-petri/ Alexandra Petri] ''The Atlantic''.</ref>
*Eugene Robinson<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/eugene-robinson/ Eugene Robinson's archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref> Robinson fled ''The Post'' in 2025 for MSNBC.<ref>[https://apnews.com/article/washington-post-robinson-columnist-leaving-85f7f63fb549035848193922364004f9 Longtime Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson is leaving. He cited Bezos’ new editorial policy] by David Bauder (9:55 AM PDT, April 4, 2025) ''Associated Press''.</ref> In 2025, he also joined ''The Atlantic'' in 2025.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2025/10/jonathan-haidt-eugene-robinson-join-atlantic/684763/ ''The Atlantic'' Announces Jonathan Haidt and Eugene Robinson as Contributing Writers] (October 30, 2025, 1:27 PM ET) ''The Atlantic''.</ref>
*Tom Toles — political cartoonist<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ Tom Toles' archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref> Toles retired in 2020.<ref>[https://archive.ph/ku86T Tom Toles’s final cartoon] (Oct. 30, 2020 at 4:08 p.m. UTC) ''The Washington Post'' (archived from 31 Oct 2020 21:30:49 UTC).</ref>
*[[The Nation|Katrina vanden Heuvel]]<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/katrina-vanden-heuvel/ Katrina vanden Heuvel’s archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*Paul Waldman<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/paul-waldman/ Paul Waldman’s archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
}}

===Centrists and formerly-conservative columnists===
{{collist|2|
*Anne Applebaum (a centrist on domestic issues, but a hawkish neoconservative on anything to do with foreign policy and Eastern Europe).
*Max Boot — anti-Trump ex-conservative, he wrote the book ''The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right'' in 2018
*Jennifer Rubin<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/ Jennifer Rubin's archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref> — Rubin was a traditional conservative before 2015. Since then, she has come out as strongly and frequently anti-Trump and highly critical of GOP enablers and supporters.
}}

===Conservative columnists===
Since 2016, you could be forgiven for thinking that at least some of these columnists are actually liberal because of their relentless attacks on the criminality and corruption of the Trump administration.
{{collist|2|
*[[Megan McArdle]]
*Michael Gerson<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/michael-gerson/ Michael Gerson's archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*{{wpl|Hugh Hewitt}} — worked in the Reagan White House in various posts, was a stooge for Richard Nixon's ghost as the executive director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum (he wanted to effectively keep out researchers who did not sign a loyalty oath)
:During a regular live Post video feature (“First Look") preceding the November 2024 election, Hewitt resigned from the Post ran offstage in a huff after being called out as a serial liar by columnist Capehart.<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/01/media/hugh-hewitt-quits-washington-post-live-show/index.html Hugh Hewitt quits The Washington Post after storming off newspaper’s live show] by Liam Reilly (9:24 PM EDT, Fri November 1, 2024) ''CNN''.</ref>
*Stanley Kurtz
*[[Charles Krauthammer]]<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/charles-krauthammer/ Charles Krauthammer's archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*Kathleen Parker (sometimes, she has criticized [[Sarah Palin]])<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/13/AR2010071304635.html Sarah Palin, from pit bull to mama grizzly] ''The Washington Post'' 14 July 2010</ref><ref>[https://www.nationalreview.com/2008/09/palin-problem-kathleen-parker/ Palin Problem] ''National Review'' 26 September 2008</ref><ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/kathleen-parker/ Kathleen Parker's archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*[[Joe Scarborough]], former [[Republican Party|Republican]] congressman, now an [[MSNBC]] talking head.
*[[Marc Thiessen]] (former [[George W. Bush]] speechwriter)<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/marc-a-thiessen/ Marc Thiessen's archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
*[[George Will]] (a weekly panelist on ABC's ''This Week'' Sunday morning talk show)<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/george-f-will/ George Will's archive] ''The Washington Post''.</ref> — has been writing columns at ''The Post'' since 1974, but it seems more like since 1947.
}}

==Bezos gets his hands dirty==
{{cquote|
*The newspaper’s duty is to its readers and to the public at large, and not to the private interests of its owners.
*In the pursuit of [[truth]], the newspaper shall be prepared to make sacrifices of its material fortunes, if such course be necessary for the public good.|||Eugene Meyer, March 5, 1935 (owner of The Post from 1933-1946)<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/about-the-post/ About The Post] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>}}
{{wpl|Fred Ryan}} was the publisher of The Post from 2014 to 2023. Following the unfortunate event that someone told Bezos that The Post lost $77 million in 2023,<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/23/media/washington-post-will-lewis-turnaround-plan/index.html The Washington Post publisher disclosed the paper lost $77 million last year. Here’s his plan to turn it around] by Oliver Darcy (7:02 AM EDT, Thu May 23, 2024) ''CNN''.</ref> Bezos decided to appoint William Lewis as the new publisher starting January 2, 2024.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2023/11/04/william-lewis-publisher-ceo-washington-post/ William Lewis named publisher and CEO of The Washington Post: The veteran media executive, previously the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, was tapped by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos to replace Fred Ryan, who stepped down in August.] by Elahe Izadi & Jeremy Barr (November 4, 2023) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> For perspective on what a $77 million loss means to Bezos, his net worth in December 2023 was $171 billion,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20231215182700/https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?sh=5fcb6d681b23 Jeff Bezos] ''Forbes'' (archived from December 15, 2023).</ref> and his net worth in October 2024 was $200 billion.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20241003195816/https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/ Jeff Bezos] ''Forbes (October 3, 2024).</ref> Bezos lost 1/2600<sup>th</sup> of his net worth on The Post in 2023, but his net worth still went up by $31 billion in 10 months. Clearly, if he wanted to, he could lose that amount of money on The Post from now to eternity if he thought it was a worthy endeavor.

Lewis' prior experience was as a journalist, followed by working as an editor for the conservative ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' and the [[tabloid]] ''[[Daily Mail|The Mail on Sunday]]'',<ref>[https://www.discoverleveson.com/witness/Will_Lewis/3960/?bc=1#witnessevidence Witness Statement of William Lewis] (January 10, 2012) ''Discover Leveson''.</ref> followed by working as chief executive of the [[Rupert Murdoch]]-owned Dow Jones & Company, and publisher of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''. He was tasked by Bezos to make The Post profitable again,<ref name=izadi>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/06/10/washington-post-jeff-bezos-william-lewis/ The Post at a crossroads: Existential questions in a dire season for news: Critics raise concerns about the values of a new team of executives. Meanwhile, the business woes are real. What does Jeff Bezos want?] by Elahe Izadi and Sarah Ellison (June 10, 2024 at 11:22 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> because every penny counts for billionaires. In June 2024, calls were made to investigate William Lewis' involvement in the criminal, dirty journalism {{wpl|News International phone hacking scandal||.}}<ref>[[https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/06/28/william-lewis-gordon-brown-phone-hacking/ Post publisher’s role in hacking response comes into sharper focus: Former U.K. prime minister Gordon Brown calls for William Lewis to be criminally investigated. Lewis says he “did nothing wrong.”] by  Aaron C. Davis et al. (June 28, 2024 at 7:22 a.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> Also in June 2024, to solve the profitability problem, Lewis proposed a new undefined third division for The Post, "[[social media]] and service journalism", that would supplement the existing two divisions of news and opinions.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/business/media/washington-post-will-lewis-npr.html Washington Post C.E.O. Promised Interview for Ignoring Scandal, NPR Reporter Says: David Folkenflik of NPR wrote that the offer, in exchange for agreeing to stop his coverage of a phone hacking scandal, was made “repeatedly — and heatedly.”] by Katie Robertson & Benjamin Mullin (June 6, 2024) ''The New York Times''.</ref> Lewis' June meeting with staff at the Post about the third division was not well received.<ref name=izadi/> Given that "social media and service journalism" is undefined, and Lewis' prior experience working in a tabloid and working for Murdoch, one wonders if it's a [[Code word|code phrase]] for tabloidism.

In October 2024, 11 days before the final day of the [[2024 U.S. presidential election]], The Post announced that it would not endorse a presidential candidate.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/10/25/washington-post-endorsement-president/ The Washington Post says it will not endorse a candidate for president: Publisher William Lewis explained the decision as a return to the newspaper’s roots.] by Manuel Roig-Franzia & Laura Wagner (October 25, 2024) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> According to The Post's employees [[union]], the Washington Post Guild, the endorsement of [[Kamala Harris]] had already been written by the editorial board when Bezos ordered that it be quashed.<ref>[https://archive.is/wQRrg 4/ "According to our own reporters and Guild members, an endorsement for Harris was already drafted, and the decision to not to publish was made by The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos […]"] by Washington Post Guild (5:45 PM · Oct 25, 2024) ''Twitter'' (archived from 26 Oct 2024 09:56:21 UTC).</ref>

In explaining the decision, publisher Lewis claimed that it was a return to The Post's history of non-endorsements of candidates.<ref name=attiah>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/27/washington-post-presidential-endorsements/ The true roots of The Post's endorsement policy: Even when The Post did not endorse presidential candidates, the paper made clear what it thought.] by Karen Attiah (October 27, 2024 at 5:44 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>

Karen Attiah wrote that the Lewis' claim that The Post had a history of non-endorsements was a false narrative, stating that in the times when The Post did not give an explicit endorsement, it laid out the facts about both candidates, making clear to the readerwhich one was better.<ref name=attiah/> Attiah noted that even The Post's own 1977 book, ''The Editorial Page'' made it clear that the no-endorsement idea was wrong:<ref name=attiah/><ref>''The Editorial Page'', edited by Laura Longley Babb of the Washington Post Writers Group (1977) Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0884750051.</ref>
{{cquote|I should begin by stating my dislike for the word ‘endorse;' it has an unqualified ring to it, as with Joe Namath, let us say, and pantyhose. It may have the effect of pinning a campaign button on a newspaper’s political reporters. … On the other hand, a compelling argument may be made that a newspaper ought to be willing to take a position on an issue on which every public-spirited citizen is expected to reach a conclusion.|||Philip Geyelin, former ''Washington Post'' editor}}

Additionally in 2016, The Post endorsed [[Hillary Clinton]] for President, stating:<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hillary-clinton-for-president/2016/10/12/665f9698-8caf-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html Hillary Clinton for president] (October 13, 2016 at 6:06 a.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
{{cquote|Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is dreadful, that is true — uniquely unqualified as a presidential candidate. If we believed that Ms. Clinton were the lesser of two evils, we might well urge you to vote for her anyway&nbsp;— that is how strongly we feel about Mr. Trump.}}
In 2020, The Post endorsed [[Joe Biden]] for President, stating, calling Trump, "the worst president of modern times".<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/28/editorial-board-endorsement-joe-biden/ Joe Biden for president] (September 28, 2020) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
Since Trump has obviously and publicly only gotten worse since his [[2021 U.S. coup attempt]],<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/23/trump-john-kelly-nazis-hitler/5a48ea50-9145-11ef-b5b1-75167840d9f3_story.html Harris says Trump 'is a fascist' after his ex-chief of staff says he wanted generals like Hitler's: Vice President Kamala Harris says she believes Donald Trump “is a fascist.”] by Dan Merica (October 24, 2024 at 8:53 a.m. EDT) ''AP'' via ''The Washington Post''.</ref><ref>[https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/09/30/trump-doj-revenge-political-enemies-00178218  The Coming Trump Revenge Tour: Trump has campaigned on a wave of retaliatory criminal prosecutions. It’s not the first time he’s promised to lock up his rivals — but a second term would be different.] by Ankush Khardori (09/30/2024 05:00 AM EDT) ''Politico''.</ref><ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/04/09/does-donald-trump-have-dementia-we-need-know-psychologist-column/3404007002/ Trump's cognitive deficits seem worse. We need to know if he has dementia: Psychologist] by John Gartner (Published 3:15 p.m. ET April 9, 2019 | Updated 4:13 p.m. ET April 9, 2019) ''USA Today''.</ref> the timing of editorial [[NPOV|neutrality]] is clearly misplaced.<ref name=marcus>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/25/post-editorial-board-wapo-endorsement-2024/ For The Post, the wrong choice at the worst possible time. The newspaper blundered by not endorsing a candidate for president.] by Ruth Marcus (October 25, 2024 at 8:21 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>

Historian Timothy Snyder accused the owners of The Post (Bezos) and the ''Los Angeles Times''' ({{wpl|Patrick Soon-Shiong}}), which also conspicuously did not endorse, of obeying Trump's [[tyranny]] in advance.<ref>[https://snyder.substack.com/p/obeying-in-advance Obeying in advance: Media billionaires ask for tyranny] by Timothy Snyder (Oct 26, 2024) ''Substack''.</ref> ''Not'' obeying tyranny in advance was one of the tactics that Snyder listed in his book ''On Tyranny'' ([[Dictator#Resisting looming tyranny|Resisting looming tyranny]]).<ref>''On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century'' by Timothy Snyder (2017) Tim Duggan Books. ISBN 0804190119.</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/26/anticipatory-obedience-newspapers-endorsement-refusal ‘Anticipatory obedience’: newspapers’ refusal to endorse shines light on billionaire owners’ motives: The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post both declined to endorse a candidate – a sign of political media capture] by Lois Beckett (Sat 26 Oct 2024 09.14 EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref> The anticipatory obedience of the billionaires is indicative of cowardice.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/26/anticipatory-obedience-newspapers-endorsement-refusal ‘Anticipatory obedience’: newspapers’ refusal to endorse shines light on billionaire owners’ motives: The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post both declined to endorse a candidate – a sign of political media capture] by Lois Beckett (26 Oct 2024 09.14 EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref> Former Post editor, Martin Baron, called the decision, "cowardice, with [[democracy]] as its casualty."<ref>[https://archive.is/pvjis On political endorsement https://wapo.st/3YmeD3T This is cowardice, with democracy as its casualty. @realdonaldtrump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner @jeffbezos (and others). Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.] by Martin Baron (4:18 PM · Oct 25, 2024) ''Twitter'' (archived from 26 Oct 2024 00:50:41 UTC).</ref>

A more substantive reason for Bezos' stopping the endorsement is that hours before that, executives of one of Bezos other companies, Blue Origin met with Trump.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/oct/27/bezos-washington-post-non-endorsement-election Bezos faces criticism after executives met with Trump on day of Post’s non-endorsement: Executives of Blue Origin briefly met with Trump within hours after paper spiked endorsement of Harris] by Michael Sainato (27 Oct 2024 11.55 EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref> Blue Origin is in competition with [[Elon Musk]]'s SpaceX for dominance in private space travel; Musk has been campaigning and funding Trump's 2024 presidential run.<ref>[https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4949136-elon-musk-trump-campaigning-pennsylvania/ Democrats rip Musk as billionaire takes leading role in Trump campaign] by Julia Shapero (10/25/24 6:00 AM ET) ''The Hill''.</ref>

To sixteen columnists' credit, they opposed the no-endorsement order. Unsurprisingly, the 21 did not include any of the conservative columnists. The protesting columnists are:<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost 20.com/opinions/2024/10/25/post-columnist-no-endorsement-2024-trump-harris/ Post columnists respond: The newspaper’s refusal to endorse a presidential candidate is a mistake.] (October 25, 2024 at 6:50 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
{{collist|2|
#Karen Attiah<ref name=attiah/>
#Perry Bacon Jr.
#Matt Bai
#Max Boot
#Kate Cohen
#E.J. Dionne Jr.
#Drew Goins
#Lee Hockstader
#David E. Hoffman
#David Ignatius
#Heather Long
#Ruth Marcus<ref name=marcus/>
#Dana Milbank<ref name=milbank/>
#Alexandra Petri<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/26/washington-post-endorses-kamala-harris-satire/ It has fallen to me, the humor columnist, to endorse Harris for president: Isn’t this what a newspaper is supposed to do?] by Alexandra Petri (October 26, 2024 at 4:22 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
#Eduardo Porter
#Catherine Rampell
#Molly Roberts
#Eugene Robinson
#Jennifer Rubin
#Karen Tumulty<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/25/washington-post-presidential-endorsement/ Refusing to endorse a candidate, The Post wounds itself: It is the job of a newspaper editorial board to make judgments on important political questions.] by Karen Tumulty (October 25, 2024 at 7:56 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
#Erik Wemple, media critic<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/erik-wemple/ Erik Wemple] ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
}}
Also, editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes created a dark, painted square, [[ironically]] titled, "Democracy Dies in Darkness", which is the slogan that Bezos came up with for the paper just after he bought it.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/25/ann-telnaes-cartoon-donald-trump-kamala-harris-washington-post/ Democracy Dies in Darkness: Ann Telnaes cartoon on The Post not endorsing a presidential candidate.] by Ann Telnaes (October 25, 2024 at 6:21 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>

Regarding the resulting subscription cancellations (which by November 1 was reported at more than 250,000 subscribers, around 10% of the paper's paid circulation)<ref>[https://archive.ph/UpUyw "What happened to all those subscriptions?"] by Erik Wempie, Washington Post, 2024 November 1 October 28</ref> and readers' calls for staff resignations, Milbank had this to say:<ref name=milbank>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/27/quit-cancel-washington-post/ Why I’m not quitting the Post: And why I hope you don’t, either.] by Dana Milbank (October 27, 2024 at 4:09 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
{{cquote|But I can’t endorse the calls to cancel The Post. Boycotting the newspaper won’t hurt Bezos, whose fortune comes not from Post subscribers but from Amazon Prime members and Whole Foods shoppers. His ownership and subsidization of The Post is just pocket change to him. And if readers want to strike a blow for democracy, they’d achieve more by knocking on doors and making calls for Harris for the next eight days. But boycotting The Post will hurt my colleagues and me.  We lost $77 million last year, which required a(nother) round of staff cuts through buyouts. The more cancellations there are, the more jobs will be lost, and the less good journalism there will be.}}
In defending The Post, Milbank noted that since Bezos' purchase in 2013, The Post has won 18 Pulitzer Prizes for in-depth reporting on:<ref name=milbank/>
{{collist|2|
*[[2021 U.S. coup attempt]]
*[[NSA]]'s secret surveillance
*Trump's phony charity, which led to prosecution in New York resulting termination and fines
*lapses in the Secret Service
*[[Police brutality|police shootings]]
*poverty
*[[abortion]]
*racial justice
*[[climate change]]
}}

===Aftermath===
{{cquote|They are compromised. Journalism is not about balancing the financial interests of your owner against your journalistic obligations.|||Jennifer Rubin<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2025/01/15/nx-s1-5258221/washington-post-will-lewis-jeff-bezos-year-one Will Lewis' first year at 'Washington Post': Cancellations, red ink and an exodus] by David Folkenflik (January 15, 2025 at 6:15 PM ET) ''NPR''.</ref>}}
In December 2024, Bezos agreed to donate $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund,<ref>[https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/12/12/jeff-bezos-amazon-planning-1-million-donation-to-trump-inauguration-matching-meta/ Jeff Bezos’ Amazon Planning $1 Million Donation To Trump Inauguration—Matching Meta] by Mary Whitfill Roeloffs (Dec 12, 2024, 07:19pm EST)</ref> what is effectively a slush fund or bribe.<ref>[https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-new-age-of-trump-protection-money The New Age of Trump: Protection Money and FU You Money] by Jonathan V. Last (Dec 13, 2024) ''The Bullwark''.</ref> On January 6, 2025, it was revealed that Bezos-owned Amazon Prime Video had already begun filming a [[Hagiography|hagiographic]] documentary of Trump's current wife, Melania.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/06/melania-trump-documentary-amazon-prime Melania Trump documentary from Brett Ratner to be released by Amazon] (6 Jan 2025 08.35 EST) ''Associated Press'' via ''The Guardian''.</ref>

In early January 2025, Telnaes attempted to draw the {{wpl|The Emperor's New Clothes|emperor as he is, without clothes|.}} She showed a rough draft of an editorial cartoon to the editorial board. Rather than approving or suggesting changes, the board prevented it from publication. The cartoon depicted a gaggle of billionaire CEOs (Mark Zuckerberg of [[Meta]], Sam Altman of [[OpenAI]], Patrick Soon-Shiong of the ''Los Angeles Times'', Mickey Mouse as a stand-in for [[The Walt Disney Company]], and Bezos) bowing-and-scraping before an enormously bloated president-elect Trump on a pedestal, just as they had done in real life. As a result of The Post's [[censorship]], Telnaes resigned.<ref>[https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-quitting-the-washington-post Why I'm quitting the Washington Post: Democracy can't function without a free press] by Ann Telnaes (Jan 03, 2025) ''Open Windows, Substack''.</ref> Billionaires are a thin-skinned lot, believing that they are self-made men who are smarter than everyone else. So rich, so powerful they are, yet they [[Dictatorship#Resisting looming tyranny|obeyed in advance to looming dictatorship]].

On January 7, immediately following the resignation of several high-profile journalists, ''The Post'' laid off 100 non-journalist staffers.<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/07/media/washington-post-layoffs/index.htmlThe Washington Post lays off roughly 100 staffers as star journalists exit] by Liam Reilly (1:31 PM EST, Tue January 7, 2025) ''CNN''.</ref> Jennifer Rubin, a [[conservative]] opinion columnist who left the [[Republican]] party due to Trump,<ref>[https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/17/jennifer-rubin-conservative-never-trump-republican-218002/ "The GOP ‘Has Become the Caricature the Left Always Said It Was’"] by Edward-Isaac Dovere, Politico, 2018 April 17</ref> resigned after 14-years at ''The Post'' on January 13 to form a new journalistic publication with {{wpl|Norm Eisen||,}} ''The Contrarian''.<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/13/media/jennifer-rubin-norm-eisen-contrarian-washington-post/index.html Jen Rubin exits Washington Post, joins Norm Eisen to launch new outlet countering ‘authoritarian threat’] by Brian Stelter (8:45 AM EST, Mon January 13, 2025) ''CNN''.</ref> Explaining her resignation, Rubin stated:<ref>[https://contrarian.substack.com/p/this-is-the-contrarian This is The Contrarian: Not Owned by Anybody] by Jennifer Rubin (Jan 13, 2025) ''Substack''.</ref>
{{cquote|The Contrarian will be a central hub for unvarnished, unbowed, and uncompromising reported opinion and analysis that exists in opposition to the [[authoritarian]] threat. Our pre-election warnings that Donald Trump posed an unprecedented threat to our democracy were often treated as alarmist. However, the election of an openly authoritarian figure who traffics in conspiracies, lies, unconstitutional schemes and un-American notions, has moved the United States to an inflection point. The future of our democracy, and what [[Lincoln]] called “the last best hope of earth” hangs in the balance. And yet corporate and billionaire media and too many in the political establishment persist in downplaying the threat and seeking to accommodate Trump and his [[radical]] agenda. We refuse to follow the herd.}}

====Muzzling the editorial department====
In February 2025, Bezos decided to clamp down on the entire editorial department, stating on [[Musk]]'s [[fascist]] platform, [[Twitter|X]]:
{{cquote|We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and [[free market]]s. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.|||Jeff Bezos<ref>[https://archive.ph/6wWrh I shared this note with the Washington Post team this morning…] by Jeff Bezos (2:31 PM · Feb 26, 2025) ''Twitter'' (archived from 26 Feb 2025 20:53:54 UTC).</ref>}}
This resulted in the immediate resignation of the lead opinion editor, David Shipley.<ref name=sullivan>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/26/jeff-bezos-washington-post-opinion Jeff Bezos is muzzling the Washington Post’s opinion section. That’s a death knell] by Margaret Sullivan (26 Feb 2025 15.10 EST) ''The Guardian''.</ref> Former ''Washington Post'' executive editor Martin Baron wrote in response to the new policy:
{{cquote|I have always been grateful for how he [Bezos] stood up for the Post and an independent press against Trump’s constant threats to his business interest. Now, I couldn’t be more sad and disgusted. … Bezos argues for personal liberties. But his news organization now will forbid views other than his own in its opinion section|||Martin Baron<ref name=sullivan/>}}
By posting on X, one may presume that it's the same brand of "personal liberties" as that of Musk's pro-fascist site, and by referring to "free markets", one may presume that its the form of [[laissez-faire]] anti-regulatory free markets that support [[Monopoly|monopolistic]] [[capitalism]] that favor billionaires such as Bezos and Musk.

In March, Ruth Marcus left The Post after a column she had written was killed because the article disagreed with Bezos decision for the editorial department.<ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/why-ruth-marcus-left-the-washington-post Why I Left the Washington Post: Owner Jeff Bezos wants to transform the Opinions section of the paper, where I worked for forty years. After the publisher killed my column disagreeing with that move—it appears here in full—I decided to quit.] by Ruth Marcus (March 12, 2025) ''The New Yorker''.</ref>


Following the assassination of [[Charlie Kirk]], columnist Karen Attiah, whose parents are from Ghana and [[Nigeria]], made several posts on her [[Bluesky]] account about political violence, the absence of meaningful [[gun control]] in most of America, the seeming indifference of many Americans to gun violence. And she wrote against inciting hatred. Those posts were followed by a quote of Kirk,<ref>[https://karenattiah.substack.com/p/the-washington-post-fired-me-but The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced. I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.] by Karen Attiah (Sep 15, 2025) ''The Golden Hour by Karen Attiah'' (Substack).</ref> which turned out to be [[out of context]],<ref>[https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fact-check-charlie-kirk-quote-082017036.html Fact Check: Charlie Kirk Quote About "Brain Processing Power" Slammed Four Specific Black Women -- Read Full Quote] by Dean Miller (September 16, 2025 at 1:20 AM PDT) ''Yahoo!News''.</ref> which the ''Financial Times'' also had misquoted the same way,<ref>[https://www.ft.com/content/96947c0a-3c14-4c1d-9ba4-ae9ec792b20d Correction: Charlie Kirk quote] (Sep 18 2025) ''Financial Times''.</ref> and could be considered racist even within the original context. Attiah was summarily fired by ''The Post'' without discussion.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/15/washington-post-karen-attiah-kirk-00564027 Washington Post columnist says she was fired for social media posts after Kirk was killed. Karen Attiah says she was fired for “endangering” her colleagues.] by Cheyanne M. Daniels (09/15/2025) ''Politico''.</ref> The firing came in the context of Trump's threats against anyone saying anything negative about Kirk's record.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/20/charlie-kirk-funeral-trump-republicans How Trump is seizing on Charlie Kirk’s killing for a campaign of vengeance: The Trump administration is trying to harness outrage over the rightwing activist’s killing to crush dissent, experts say] by David Smith (20 Sep 2025 11.29 EDT) ''The Guardian''.</ref>

After Attiah's firing, there were only 10 columnists remaining of the once expansive and diverse department. The only African American remaining is Michelle Singletary, who writes exclusively on financial issues. The only other non-white columnist is Fareed Zakaria, an Indian American, who writes on international issues.<ref>[https://archive.ph/C6m7X Columnists] ''The Washington Post'' (archived from 17 Sep 2025 20:36:57 UTC).</ref>

===In retrospect===
At first, Bezos seemed like the perfect owner for The Post, someone who supported democracy and journalists under threat, but was hands-off enough to not influence newspaper reporting. At one point in 2020, Bezos even paid his respects at the grave of Post writer Jamal Khashoggi who had been ordered executed by [[Mohammad bin Salman]] MBS) in 2018 in the [[Saudi]] embassy in [[Turkey]].<ref>[https://archive.ph/wip/ck3nk #Jamal] by Jeff Bezos (11:03 AM · Jan 22, 2020) ''Twitter'' (archived from 16 May 2025 19:36:00 UTC).</ref> As it turned out, though, Bezos was both a pinch-penny and a spendthrift. He was a spendthrift for ordering a mega-yacht to be built in the Netherlands that nearly couldn't get out of the harbor without the destruction and recreation of a historical bridge.<ref>{{wpa|Koru (yacht)}}</ref> He was a pinch-penny because The Post has been losing lots of money for years, about $76 million in 2023, and $100 million in 2024 after subscribers and writers fled.<ref>[https://nypost.com/2025/01/13/media/washington-post-traffic-craters-loses-100m-amid-identity-crisis-as-talent-readers-flee-reports/ Washington Post traffic craters, loses $100M amid identity crisis as talent, readers flee: reports] by Taylor Herzlich (Jan. 13, 2025, 12:47 p.m. ET) ''New York Post''.</ref> This sounds like a vast sum of money to mere mortals, but to put it in perspective, Bezos earned over $7.9 million ''per hour'' in 2024,<ref>[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jeff-bezos-made-over-7-172628289.html Jeff Bezos Made Over $7.9 Million An Hour Every Hour In 2023 — In Under 13 Minutes, He Brought In The Equivalent Of What The Typical Person Earns In A Lifetime] by Jeannine Mancini (January 26, 2024) ''Yahoo!Finance''.</ref> So, even in The Post's worst year for earning (under Bezos and Lewis' new leadership, no less), Bezos only lost 1/2-day of earnings on the venture.

To clarify Bezos' "free market" ideology, Bezos — via his company, Amazon — entered into business deal with MBS, Khashoggi's murderer, in 2025.<ref>[http://www.theverge.com/amazon/667916/jeff-bezos-amazon-saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi Jeff Bezos makes his most ghoulish deal yet. Remember Jamal Khashoggi?] by Elizabeth Lopatto (May 15, 2025, 9:00 PM UTC) ''The Verge''.</ref>
{{cquote|It is worth being very attentive when [[oligarch]]s talk about [[free speech]]. The issue is not just that they are insincere or [[Hypocrisy|hypocritical]]. It is that they seek to [[Deceit|traduce]] freedom of speech by making it seem senseless. Oligarchs pretend to be the victims, even when they own social media platforms or are presidents of countries. We are meant to conclude that freedom of speech is just the removal of any remaining impediments to the caprice of those who already control conversations. Debating the latest instance of oligarchical whining, we forget that the purpose of freedom of speech is to speak [[truth]] to power.|||Timothy Snyder<ref>''On Freedom'' by Timothy Snyder (2024) Crown. ISBN 9780593728727.</ref>{{rp|191}}}}

In July 2025, publisher Lewis gave staffers and ultimatum of sorts, telling staffers that those who "do not feel aligned with the company's plan" should take the offer of a voluntary buyout (the plan includes full integrration of [[AI]] into the paper,{{efn|Lewis had already replaced the entire reader comment-reviewing section with a [[large language model]] in 2024.}} and paid lip service to defending democracy).<ref>[https://archive.ph/wip/TaCse Will Lewis emails the Washington Post staff, encouraging those who "do not feel aligned" with the company's future plans to consider the buyout offer.] by Ben Mullin (1:46 PM · Jul 9, 2025) ''Twitter'' (archived from 11 Oct 2025 19:20:14 UTC).</ref><ref>[https://www.thewrap.com/washington-post-ceo-will-lewis-encourages-resignations/ Washington Post CEO Encourages Staffers to Resign if They Don’t ‘Feel Aligned’ With Its Reinvention] by Benjamin Lindsay (July 9, 2025 @ 3:39 PM) ''The Wrap''.</ref> Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jonathan Capehart and long-time reporter and data analyst Philip Bump both took the offer shortly after it was made.<ref>[https://www.the-independent.com/travel/americas/washington-post-exodus-jonathan-capehart-buyout-bezos-b2793184.html Washington Post exodus grows as MSNBC host and Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Capehart takes Bezos buyout] by Justin Baragona (21 July 2025 14:39 EDT) ''Independent''.</ref>

==See also==
*[[International Fact-Checking Network]]
*[[Bob Woodward]], the famous journalist that helped expose [[Watergate]] and has also been working for the ''Post'' since 1971!

==External links==
*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ ''Post'' website]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOCxegQupMU "The Washington Post March"], written by John Philip Sousa in 1889 (Commissioned by the publishers of the ''Post'') on [[YouTube]]
*[https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-washington-post-is-dying-jeff-bezos-will-lewis The Washington Post is dying. I can tell you “how.” But not “why.” Is Jeff Bezos killing the newspaper on purpose or by accident?] by Jonathan V. Last (Jul 24, 2025) ''The Bulwark''.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Post, The}}
[[Category:2024 US presidential election]]
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Categories: 2024 US presidential election, American media, Google News Fact Check, Media, Newspapers