Jeff Bezos kills Washington Post's Harris endorsement, making people trust media less: Sarah Rumpf

On Forbes Newsroom, Sarah Rumpf, co-publisher of Mediaite, spoke about Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos's direction to the newspaper's editorial board to stop endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris – a move that came less than two weeks before Election Day took place. The decision has sparked both internal and external backlash – the newspaper has reportedly lost over 250,000 paying subscribers, and several employees have resigned from the newsroom in protest.

“It's one of those things where if you do it in advance, it's okay. If you do it in the 11th hour, it stinks really bad,” said Rumpf about the decision.

In an editorial on Monday evening, Bezos defended the decision. “Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales in an election,” said Bezos. “What presidential endorsements actually do is create the appearance of bias. The impression of non-independence. Ending it is a principled decision, and it is the right one.” “

Rumpf argued that Bezos's last-minute decision to withdraw support so close to the election could undermine Americans' trust in the media. Rumpf added that the decision to withdraw consent “does not send the message that they are saying something that is untrue, but rather that they are willing to withhold something that they believe to be true and that they are willing to withhold something that they think is true.” keep it true, don't publish it because they're trying. “Avoid angering Trump or trying to ingratiate himself.”

Watch the full interview above.