Headline Roundup • October 29th, 2024
Jeff Bezos Defend’s WaPo's Non-Endorsement of Harris: 'Americans Don’t Trust the News Media'
Media Industry,Media Bias,Jeff Bezos,Endorsements,Washington Post,Washington Post Bias,Liberal Media Bias,Kamala Harris,2024 Presidential Election,Amazon,Politics
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Washington Post (Lean Left bias) owner Jeff Bezos doubled down on his decision to nix its editorial board’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris in an opinion essay for the publication.
The Details: Bezos cited a recent Gallup study depicting declining American trust in the media as a primary reason for his decision, writing, “Most people believe the media is biased,” and that newspapers “must work harder to control what [they] can control to increase [their] credibility.” Bezos added, “Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election.”
New Media: Bezos claimed fellow mainstream papers have similar issues with reader trust. “Many people are turning to off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions. The Washington Post and the New York Times win prizes, but increasingly we talk only to a certain elite… I will also not allow this paper to stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance — overtaken by unresearched podcasts and social media barbs — not without a fight.”
For Context: Post editor Robert Kagan resigned after Bezos blocked the endorsement. Similarly, an editor of the Los Angeles Times (Lean Left bias) resigned when the paper reportedly quashed its staff’s endorsement of Harris. Bezos is also the founder and a principal owner of Amazon.
How The Media Covered It: The story was widely covered across the spectrum. Some outlets on the right framed the story as a sign that media trust is an issue across the spectrum and no longer isolated to the right.
Featured Coverage of this Story
In the annual public surveys about trust and reputation, journalists and the media have regularly fallen near the very bottom, often just above Congress. But in this year’s Gallup poll, we have managed to fall below Congress. Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working.
Let me give an analogy. Voting machines must meet two requirements. They must count the vote accurately, and people must believe they count the vote accurately. The second requirement is distinct from and just as important as the first.
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Billionaire and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on Monday defended the paper’s decision to not endorse a presidential candidate, a move that has triggered intense backlash and staff resignations, along with 200,000 people reportedly canceling their digital subscription
In an op-ed for the paper, Bezos wrote Presidential endorsements “do nothing to tip the scales of an election” and wrote “No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, ‘I’m going with Newspaper A’s endorsement.’”
The billionaire then argued that presidential endorsements “create a perception of bias…of non-independence” and the decision to end them was a...
DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images
Amazon founder and Washington Post owner said Monday that the Post’s decision not to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris is in response to a larger issue of media credibility being eroded.
Bezos pointed to the recent surveys on trust and public reputation, with media institutions consistently ranking near the bottom, in the article titled “The Hard Truth: Americans Don’t Trust the News Media,” published in the opinion section of the Post. This year, however, Gallup reports an even more dire verdict that journalism now holds the lowest spot in American trust, with...
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