Past His Prime

Jeff Bezos is trying to extinguish the hot flames of anger consuming his newspaper.

On Monday evening, after 72 hours of torrential criticism, which included an extraordinary rebuke from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Amazon and Blue Origin billionaire published an opinion piece defending The Washington Post's decision to forgo making an endorsement in the high-stakes 2024 presidential election. Bezos argued that such an endorsement would have done "nothing to tip the scales" of the election and would have only created "a perception of bias." Bezos pushed back against the notion that his decision was a result of a "quid pro quo of any kind." And, while noting much of the country now finds their news from "inaccurate social media posts" and "off-the-cuff podcasts," he sternly vowed not to "allow this paper to stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance."

"You can see my wealth and business interests as a bulwark against intimidation, or you can see them as a web of conflicting interests. Only my own principles can tip the balance from one to the other," Bezos wrote. "I assure you that my views here are, in fact, principled, and I believe my track record as owner of The Post since 2013 backs this up."

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