New York –
Greater than 200,000 individuals have cancelled subscriptions to The Washington Publish because the newspaper introduced its determination final week to not endorse a candidate for president, a broadcast report mentioned Monday.
NPR reported the determine, citing “two individuals on the paper with data of inside issues.”
The reported lack of subscriptions of that magnitude can be a blow to a information outlet that’s already going through monetary headwinds. The Publish had greater than 2.5 million subscribers final yr, the majority of them digital, making it third behind The New York Instances and Wall Road Journal in circulation.
A Publish spokeswoman, Olivia Peterson, wouldn’t touch upon the report when contacted by The Related Press.
The Publish’s editorial workers had reportedly ready an endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris earlier than asserting as a substitute Friday that it could go away it up for readers to make up their very own minds. The timing, lower than two weeks earlier than Election Day, led critics to query whether or not Publish proprietor and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had been involved about whether or not Republican Donald Trump may retaliate if he had been elected president.
The Publish’s retired former editor, Marty Baron, had denounced the choice on social media as “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty.”
Some journalists, together with Publish columnist Dana Milbank, urged readers to not categorical their anger on the determination by cancelling subscriptions, for worry it may price reporters or editors their jobs.
The Publish’s determination got here solely days after the Los Angeles Instances additionally mentioned it could not endorse a presidential candidate, which the newspaper has acknowledged has price them hundreds of subscribers.
An article on the Publish’s web site in regards to the fallout from the non-endorsement had greater than 2,000 feedback, a lot of them from readers saying they had been leaving.
“I’m unsubscribing after 70 years,” wrote one commenter, claiming to have misplaced hope and perception that the Publish would publish the reality.
