American election 2024: Washington Post lost 10% of subscribers due to Jeff Bezos’ decision to neutrality

More than 250,000 readers of its digital or print edition decided to cancel their subscription after the announcement of its owner, the tycoon, that the paper will not choose to support either Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, nor Donald Trump’s Republican opponent in view of the presidential election of November 5. According to a post by National Public Radio journalist (NPR) reported via X yesterday Tuesday (29.10.24) that it is roughly 10% of Washington Post subscribers, the owner of which is the second richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos. The decision caused anger to the newspaper’s readerial audience, as it was taken as an attempt by Mr. Bezos to limit potential damage to his interests and businesses in the event of Mr. Trump returning to the White House. In an article published the day before yesterday in his newspaper, the tycoon also owned by retail Amazon’s digital giant and private space company Blue Origin — which is decisively dependent on public procurement —, among other things, assured that it does not have a ‘political agenda’ and argued that Americans believe the media have ‘prejudices’ and the selection of a candidate would not help restore their image of impartiality. The text in which the newspaper’s drafting announced that it was in favour of the vice president and Democratic candidate for the White House had been written, but Jeff Bezos decided not to be published. The billionaire acquired the historic American newspaper in 2013. The Post, which revealed much of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, resulting in Republican ex-President Richard Nixon being forced to resign in 1974, 2016 and 2020 enlisted in favour of Hillary Clinton and in favor of Joe Biden respectively.