Two journalists at The Washington Post have stepped down from the editorial board in protest over the publication’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate, with concerns that it was a way for owner Jeff Bezos to placate Donald Trump.
David E. Hoffman, a Pulitzer Prize winning contributing editor, and Molly Roberts, editorial writer covering technology and society, confirmed that they have resigned from the editorial board.
Hoffman wrote in a letter to David Shipley, editorial page editor, “Under our watch at The Post, no one would be lost in silence. Until Friday, I assumed we would apply the same values and principles to an editorial endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump. I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment.”
Hoffman, who accepted his most recent Pulitzer Prize on Thursday for his columns on autocracy, said that while he was leaving the board, “I refuse to give up on The Post” and would remain on the staff.
Roberts wrote in a statement posted on X, “To be clear, the decision not to endorse the election was not the editorial board’s. It was (you can read the reporting) Jeff Bezos’s. By registering my dissent, I don’t intent to impugn the conduct of my colleagues, all of whom were put in nearly impossible positions.”
She said that she was resigning from the editorial board “because the imperative to endorse Kamala Harris over Donald Trump is about as morally clear as it gets. Worse, our silence is exactly what Donald Trump wants: for the media, for us, to keep quiet.” She too plans to remain at the paper, according to the Post.
The departures from the editorial board follow the resignations of columnist Robert Kagan and opinion contributor Michele Norris, as well as a wave of subscription cancellations after the non-endorsement decision was announced.
Bezos has not yet commented on the backlash to the non-endorsement decision — inside the newsroom and from readers. But Will Lewis, the publisher of the Post, said in a statement in the paper on Sunday that the “decision to end presidential endorsements was made entirely internally and neither campaign nor candidate was given a heads up or consulted in any way at any level. Any reporting to the contrary is simply incorrect.”
In announcing the decision on Friday, Lewis said that it was “a statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds on this, the most consequential of American decisions — whom to vote for as the next president.”
But that has not tamped down criticism that the Post was backing away from any potential backlash should Donald Trump return to the White House. When he was president, he routinely bashed Bezos and threatened to investigate Amazon, the company he founded, for antitrust violations.
Martin Baron, who was executive editor of the Post through the Trump years, called the decision “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.” he wrote that Trump would see this as a reason to “further intimidate” Bezos, as well as others. “Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage,” he wrote. In an interview on CNN, Baron also questioned the idea that the decision was in deference to readers making up their own minds, noting that the Post has continued to endorse in state and local races.
The letter from Hoffman and statement from Roberts:
For decades, The Washington Post’s editorials have been a beacon of light, signaling hope to dissidents, political prisoners and the voiceless. When victims of repression were harassed, exiled, imprisoned and murdered, we made sure the whole world knew the truth. This was a driving force in my 12 years on the Editorial Board, culminating in our 2023 series, “Annals of Autocracy,” which owed much to our leadership of Opinions. We showed how thousands of young people around the world are being wrongly imprisoned for their beliefs and for expressing their views on social media.
Under our watch at The Post, no one would be lost in silence.
Until Friday, I assumed we would apply the same values and principles to an editorial endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. I believe we face a very real threat of autocracy in the candidacy of Donald Trump. I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice at this perilous moment.
I stand against silence in the face of dictatorship. Here, there, everywhere.
I am stepping down from the editorial board.
While leaving the board, I refuse to give up on The Post, where I have spent 42 years. I believe the reporters, editors and columnists at The Post are determined to fulfill its mission as a pillar of American democracy. I’m committed to several important projects now underway, including the expanded effort to support press freedom around the world.
Sincerely,
David.
Roberts posted her letter on X.
