Washington Post will not endorse any candidate in 2024 presidential election, breaking decades-long tradition

For the first time in decades, The Washington Post will not endorse any candidate in this year's presidential election, the newspaper's publisher said Friday.

"The Washington Post will not endorse any presidential candidate in this election. Nor will it endorse any future presidential election," Will Lewis said in a released statement. "We are returning to our roots and not endorsing any presidential candidates."

The Post has endorsed a presidential candidate in every election since the 1980s. In his statement, Lewis referred to the editorial board's previous decisions not to endorse any candidate and stressed that this is a right "that we are returning to."

"We recognize that this can be interpreted in a number of ways, such as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, a condemnation of another, or an abdication of responsibility. That is inevitable," Lewis continued. "We do not see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values ​​that The Post has always stood for and that we look for in a leader: character and courage in the service of the American ethic, reverence for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects."

The Washington Post is owned by billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Newspaper owners typically play a role in advocating for their publication and give their approval to the editorials that are considered to express their views.

Before Friday's announcement, Post editor David Shipley told staff that Lewis would issue a public notice about the decision.

The decision was sharply criticized by Marty Baron, the Post's former editor in chief who led the paper through its coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. The paper later won the Pulitzer Prize for public relations for its coverage of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, which it called an "attempted coup."

"This is cowardice that democracy is falling victim to. Donald Trump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner Bezos (and others)," Baron wrote in a social media post. "Disturbing spinelessness in an institution known for its courage."

During his presidency, Trump famously clashed with Bezos, especially when it came to Amazon. Trump called the Post "The Fake News Washington Post" and derided it as Amazon's "chief lobbyist."

Trump directly accused Amazon of not paying enough taxes and exploiting the U.S. Postal Service, among other allegations. The Trump administration also blocked Amazon's $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon, which was widely seen as Trump's retaliation against Bezos over the Post's reporting.

As Baron writes in his book "Collision of Power," it was Bezos who helped shape the Post's "Democracy Dies in Darkness" motto, which was adopted during the Trump era.

A Washington Post journalist, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told CNN on Friday that he had mixed feelings about the decision.

"I'm glad the Post will no longer support the motto. But the timing and the way they're putting this out there is terrible," the person said. "If you've been reading the Post for the past few years and know all the facts the news site has uncovered, I'm not sure you need the editors to tell you what to do.