The paper, which is owned by the Amazon founder, cites two nameless sources who mentioned it was his name.
It seems The Washington Put up’s determination to forgo endorsing a presidential candidate—for under the second time since 1976—was made by its proprietor, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in keeping with the newspaper.
“We acknowledge that this will probably be learn in a spread of the way, together with as a tacit endorsement of 1 candidate, or as a condemnation of one other, or as an abdication of duty,” Lewis wrote on Oct. 25. “That’s inevitable. We don’t see it that means. We see it as in step with the values The Put up has all the time stood for and what we hope for in a pacesetter: character and braveness in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of regulation, and respect for human freedom in all its features.
“We additionally see it as a press release in help of our readers’ potential to make up their very own minds on this, essentially the most consequential of American selections—whom to vote for as the subsequent president,” he wrote.
The Put up has endorsed solely Democratic presidential candidates because it took up the follow, backing former President Jimmy Carter in 1976. Solely in 1988, when Vice President George H.W. Bush and Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis competed for the Oval Workplace, had The Put up chosen to remain silent.
The Epoch Instances reached out to The Washington Put up and Amazon for affirmation.
The Washington Put up’s determination follows an analogous transfer by the Los Angeles Instances, whose proprietor, Patrick Quickly-Shiong, additionally reportedly blocked the editorial crew’s endorsement of Harris.
“On this means, with this clear and nonpartisan data facet by facet, our readers might resolve who could be worthy of being president for the subsequent 4 years,” he mentioned. “As a substitute of adopting this path as advised, the Editorial Board selected to stay silent, and I accepted their determination.”
The transfer triggered the departure of the newspaper’s editorial part editor Mariel Garza.
“I’m resigning as a result of I wish to make it clear that I’m not OK with us being silent,” Garza advised the Columbia Journalism Overview’s Sewell Chan in an interview. “In harmful occasions, trustworthy folks want to face up. That is how I’m standing up.”
Zachary Stieber and Kimberly Hayek contributed to this report.