Amid Backlash, Jeff Bezos Defends Ending Washington Post Presidential Endorsements: They ‘Create a Perception of Bias’

Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, asserted that “no quid pro quo of any kind” was involved in his paper’s decision to stop endorsing U.S. presidential candidates.

Rather, Bezos said, the decision was intended to bolster consumers’ trust in the Post, he wrote in an article published Monday by the Washington Post.

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“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election. No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, ‘I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.’ None,” Bezos wrote. “What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”

Bezos continued, “I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it. That was inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.”

His response came after more than 200,000 subscribers reportedly have canceled their subscriptions to the newspaper since the decision was announced, per NPR.

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