Bezos Defends Washington Post's Endorsement of Biden, Says It's "Journalistic Integrity"
So, you've heard about the whole Bezos-Washington Post-Biden endorsement thing, right? It's been a bit of a whirlwind, and some people are super confused about the whole "owner endorsing a candidate" deal. Well, Amazon founder and Washington Post owner, Jeff Bezos, decided to clear the air and explain why the Post endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020.
Bezos, who's been a vocal critic of President Trump, said that the Post's decision to endorse Biden was totally based on journalistic integrity. He emphasized that the decision was entirely the Post's, and that he didn't try to influence the editorial board's decision in any way. He even claimed that he didn't know who the Post was going to endorse until they published it.
But what did Bezos actually say? Well, he basically said that the Post has a long history of making independent editorial decisions. This time, they decided that Biden's policies aligned better with the Post's values, and that's why they endorsed him. It's not about Bezos' personal opinions, but about the Post's journalistic standards.
Now, you might be thinking, "Isn't it a bit weird for a newspaper owned by someone so powerful to endorse a candidate?" And yeah, it is kinda weird. But Bezos' statement was essentially saying, "Hey, the Post is an independent entity, and it makes its own calls. Just because I own it doesn't mean I control it."
This situation definitely raises questions about the potential for bias, but Bezos' defense is based on the idea that the Post acts independently and that its editorial decisions are based on journalistic principles. Whether you agree with that or not is a whole different conversation.