Over 200,000 people cancel Washington Post subscriptions after it blocks Harris endorsement: NPR

WASHINGTON – More than 200,000 people had cancelled their digital subscriptions for The Washington Post by midday on Oct 28, following the newspaper’s decision

to block an endorsement of US Vice-President Kamala Harris

for president, National Public Radio (NPR) reported.

Not all cancellations take effect immediately, the NPR report said, adding that still, the figure represents about 8 per cent of the paper’s paid circulation of 2.5 million subscribers, which includes print as well.

The Washington Post, which is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was also hit by a series of resignations from columnists, NPR reported.

The media outlet declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters.

In a post on Oct 25, Mr William Lewis, the publisher and chief executive officer of the newspaper, said it will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in the Nov 5 election, nor in any future presidential election.

“We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” Mr Lewis wrote.

In an opinion piece on The Washington Post’s website, 20 columnists wrote: “The Washington Post’s decision not to make an endorsement in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake.” The piece added that it “represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love”.