• by Ray Schultz , October 29, 2024

The Washington Post is continuing to suffer the consequences of its failure to endorse a Presidential candidate, specifically Kamala Harris.  

The number of subscription cancellations now stands at 250,000 -- 10% of the Post’s total, David Folkenflik reports on NPR.  

At this rate, the paid digital subscription loss could cost $30 million, one observer posts. However, the Post has not confirmed subscription numbers. 

Moreover, the Post has seen a 12% rise in app downloads since the non-endorsement announcement. And its daily active users grew by 10% over the weekend, The Wrap reports, based on Sensor Tower data.  

But the cancelled subscriptions could have an impact on the health of the newspaper, critics say.  

“Such withholding of revenue is usually more a symbolic message than a real threat to the viability of a company,” Siva Vaidhyanathan writes in The Guardian. "But for the Post, which has been teetering for decades, any loss in subscribers is threatening. Hundreds of good journalists who had no influence on Bezos’s decision remain unsure of the viability of their employer.” 

But the staff is still in turmoil. The Post itself reports that David E. Hoffman and Molly Roberts have left their positions on the Editorial Board, Hoffman writing: “I find it untenable and unconscionable that we have lost our voice,” in a letter to Opinions leader David Shipley.  

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the Los Angeles Times reports it had more than 7,000 subscription cancellations as of Monday, and that total cancellations over the last few days were significantly higher. The Times, which has fewer than 400,000 subscribers, also would not endorse a candidate. 

Post owner Jeff Bezos, in the op-ed defending the endorsement decision, seems to partially blame the press itself for its problems.

“In the annual public surveys about trust and reputation, journalists and the media have regularly fallen near the very bottom, often just above Congress. But in this year’s Gallup poll, we have managed to fall below Congress. Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working. 

What do newspapers need to do? “We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate,” Bezos continues. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement. Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose.”