The Washington Post has reportedly lost more than 200,000 subscriptions since announcing its decision not to endorse a presidential candidate, NPR reported Monday.
The paper lost about 8% of its paid circulation of its 2.5 million subscribers as of Monday following William Lewis, the Post’s chief executive officer and publisher, announcement Friday that the editorial board would not make a presidential endorsement for the first time in decades, sources with direct knowledge told NPR. A slew of staffers supporting Vice President Kamala Harris resigned from their positions following the endorsement decision.
A Post subscription costs $4 per month for the first year, while a premium subscription costs $6 per month in the first year, according to the Post’s subscription page.
NEWS: More than 200,000 subscribers have canceled their digital subscriptions to the Washington Post after the revelation that owner Jeff Bezos blocked an endorsement of VP Harris.
That’s about 8 percent of WaPo’s subscriber base – a staggering sum
MOREhttps://t.co/nCJhJrmlq0— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) October 28, 2024
The Post’s editorial board had reportedly drafted an endorsement for Harris earlier in October, before management decided not to choose a candidate instead, Semafor reported. The paper reportedly faced 2,000 subscription cancellations as of Friday and received multiple complaints from subscribers over the lack of an endorsement. (RELATED: Los Angeles Times Reportedly Declines To Endorse Presidential Candidate For First Time In 20 Years)
Editor-at-large Robert Kagan became the first to resign from the editorial board Friday after learning of his employer’s decision to refrain from endorsing Harris, Semafor reported. Two journalists, David E. Hoffman and Molly Roberts, confirmed Monday that they resigned from the editorial board to protest the matter.
— Molly Roberts (@mollylroberts) October 28, 2024
The Post’s editorial board first broke tradition of not endorsing a candidate in 1976 when it backed former President Jimmy Carter, Lewis said in a statement Friday. The paper then made endorsements in every election since the 1980s but will no longer do so in the future.
Former columnist Michele Norris said in an X statement Sunday that she resigned from the Post over its refusal to endorse Harris at a time when “core democratic principles are at stake.”
“As of yesterday, I have decided to resign from my role as a columnist for The Washington Post — a newspaper that I love,” Norris said. “In a moment like this, everyone needs to make their own decisions … The Washington Post’s decision to withhold an endorsement that had been written & approved in an election where core democratic principles are at stake was a terrible mistake & an insult to the paper’s own longstanding standard of regularly endorsing candidates since 1976.”
The Post did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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