- Michele Norris mentioned she resigned as a columnist at The Washington Submit.
- Norris mentioned the Submit’s resolution to not endorse Kamala Harris was a “horrible mistake.”
- The Submit reported that its proprietor, Jeff Bezos, made the choice.
Michele Norris, a columnist at The Washington Submit, has resigned, making her the latest staffer to go away over the newspaper’s resolution to not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris within the 2024 presidential election.
Norris shared the information in an X submit on Sunday.
“The Washington Submit’s resolution to withhold an endorsement that had been written & accepted in an election the place core democratic ideas are at stake was a horrible mistake & an insult to the paper’s personal longstanding commonplace of frequently endorsing candidates since 1976,” she wrote.
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The Washington Submit mentioned on Friday that it will not endorse a US presidential candidate, angering some editorial workers, together with editor at massive Robert Kagan, who on Friday additionally resigned.
Writer and CEO Will Lewis wrote in a column on Friday that the choice was made to permit Submit readers to “make up their very own minds” on who to vote for within the presidential election.
“Our job at The Washington Submit is to offer by the newsroom nonpartisan information for all People, and thought-provoking, reported views from our opinion workforce to assist our readers make up their very own minds,” he wrote. “Most of all, our job because the newspaper of the capital metropolis of crucial nation on this planet is to be impartial.”
Norris, who had been a high-profile opinion columnist on the Submit since 2019, mentioned on X that the “cause given under no circumstances justifies” the change in coverage.
“I’m deeply upset by the Submit’s resolution to reverse course and withhold a presidential endorsement on this election cycle when the wonderful reporting all through the whole lot of the paper makes clear all that’s at stake within the election and around the globe,” she wrote.
The newspaper revealed a separate article on Friday reporting that its proprietor, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in the end made the decision.
The Submit reported that editorial web page staffers had drafted an endorsement for Harris, who’s vying for the Oval Workplace in opposition to former President Donald Trump.
Former Washington Submit govt editor Martin Baron criticized the transfer in a textual content to the newspaper, in response to The Submit’s article on Friday.
“That is cowardice, a second of darkness that may depart democracy as a casualty. Donald Trump will have fun this as an invite to additional intimidate The Submit’s proprietor, Jeff Bezos (and different media house owners),” he mentioned. “Historical past will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an establishment famed for braveness.”
A consultant for The Washington Submit declined to remark.
