The publisher of the Washington Post is running defense for owner Jeff Bezos, after the paper's decision not to endorse a candidate in this year's presidential election caused an uproar.
Will Lewis took responsibility for the highly criticized decision to end the outlet's decades-long tradition of endorsement. In a Saturday morning statement to CNN, Lewis defended Bezos from reports that the billionaire interfered with the paper’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris.
“Reporting around the role of The Washington Post owner and the decision not to publish a presidential endorsement has been inaccurate,” Lewis said. “He was not sent, did not read and did not opine on any draft.”
The carefully worded statement notes only that Bezos' role was inaccurately described. The statement runs against one put out by the Post's union, which claimed doesn't completely conflict with the Post’s own reporting, where sources with knowledge of the decision to not endorse laid the blame on Bezos.
Lewis very specifically said that Bezos was not sent a draft of a planned endorsement, but did not say who made the decision to endorse neither candidate.
"As Publisher, I do not believe in presidential endorsements," Lewis concluded. "We are an independent newspaper and should support our readers’ ability to make up their own minds.”
The paper's decision to buck precedent has been criticized by legendary investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — who broke the Watergate scandal while working for the Post — as well as many of the paper's current opinion columnists.
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