Billionaire Washington Post owner and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is ready to rollout a big shakeup at the notoriously liberal newspaper.
Bezos reportedly wants to add MORE conservative writers to the paper’s opinion section to expand the paper’s potential readership.
Last week, the Post announced that it wouldn’t endorse a candidate in the upcoming presidential election despite years of hostility and negative coverage toward former President Trump and a reported endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris already drafted and ready to publish.
However, according to reports by the Washington Post Guild and other outlets, Bezos himself made the call not to offer an endorsement, but the high-powered Amazon mogul has remained mum on the issue.
The New York Times, The Post‘s rival paper, reported that Bezos “is interested in expanding The Post’s audience among conservatives,” citing a person familiar with the matter.
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos wants more conservative opinion writers at paper: report https://t.co/FGXY75XOg9 pic.twitter.com/SFwC99pTsi
— New York Post (@nypost) October 28, 2024
Bezos has informed publisher William Lewis “that he wants more conservative writers on the opinion section,” the Times added.
The Washington Post declined comment.
A rep for Bezos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, in “a note from our owner” published Monday evening, Bezos said that editorial endorsements create a perception of bias at a time many Americans don’t believe the media, and do nothing to tip the scales of an election.
Bezos added that he wished the decision to end presidential endorsements had been done earlier, and blamed “inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy.”
“Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one,” Bezos said.
The decision followed a move by Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong to block that newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, which has spurred the resignation of several of its editorial board members.
Outrage over Bezos’ decision not to issue an endorsement angered many liberal readers who canceled their subscriptions and urged others to do the same.
Nineteen opinion columnists co-signed a letter condemning the decision, at least three employees have quit in protest and many other current and former Post staffers expressed outrage on social media.
The Post has some conservative columnists and contributors, such as Hugh Hewitt, Marc Thiessen and George Will, but publishes far more left-leaning ones.
In 2016 and 2020, the Post enthusiastically endorsed Hillary Clinton and Biden against Trump. It called him “dreadful” and “uniquely unqualified” in 2016. In 2020, it referred to Trump as “the worst president of modern times.”