image source, Reuters

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos defended the newspaper’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate.

For decades, the editorial board, which is separate from the journalists who work there, supported a future president. With less than two weeks to go, the Post’s publisher announced it wouldn’t do it this time.

Bezos, who is also Amazon’s CEO, argued that publishing an endorsement, a draft of which reportedly suggested Kamala Harris, would undermine readers’ confidence in the newspaper’s integrity.

“Presidential confirmations do nothing to change the outcome of the election,” Bezos said. wrote, external on paper.

“What the president’s endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of lack of independence,” he continued. “Ending these is a principled decision and the right one.”

The decision to break decades of tradition and delay approval for days was met with fierce reactions both among employees within the company and among readers abroad.

According to NPR, an estimated 200,000 people canceled their subscriptions because of the controversy.