The Washington Post Building at One Franklin Square on June 5, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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washington post The magazine has reportedly lost more than 200,000 digital subscriptions, and three members of its editorial board resigned after deciding not to Agree candidates in presidential election Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The Washington Post quoted two sources with knowledge of internal affairs as saying, NPRDavid Folkenflik reported on Monday that the newspaper’s paid circulation among its 2.5 million paid subscribers, which includes the print edition, has dropped by about 8% since Friday’s announcement that it would no longer support the paper.
Molly Roberts, David Hoffman and Mili Mitra have resigned from the paper over controversial decisions regarding endorsements, according to public statements and the newspaper position on the editorial board but remains on the paper’s staff.
A Washington Post spokesman declined to comment on the loss of subscriptions or the resignation of the editorial board when contacted by CNBC on Monday.
Will Lewis, publisher and chief executive of The Washington Post, said he has decided to break with the paper’s decades-long tradition and not endorse a presidential candidate this year or in any future election.
But a report in The Post on Friday quoted four people briefed on the decision as saying that the Post’s owner, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezosmade the decision to no longer issue presidential endorsements.
The newspaper denied the claim.
The newspaper’s editorial page had planned to endorse Democratic nominee Vice President Harris, according to the newspaper’s own reporting.
Roberts announced her resignation from the editorial board in a letter to Post editor David Shipley, writing: “I object to silence in the face of dictatorships. Here, there, everywhere.”
She also released a statement online. “To be very clear, the decision not to support this election was not the editorial board’s,” Roberts wrote. “This is (you can read the report) Jeff Bezos.”
“I am resigning from the Washington Post editorial board because the need to support Kamala Harris over Donald Trump is morally obvious. Worse, our silence is precisely what Donald Trump What Pu wants: silence for the media, for us.”
“Reports about the role of The Washington Post’s owner and the decision not to publish the presidential endorsement are inaccurate,” Lewis said in a statement Saturday.
“He was not sent, read or commented on any draft,” Lewis said. “As a publisher, I do not trust the president’s endorsement. We are an independent newspaper and should support readers in making their own decisions.”
