Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post. AP Photo/John Locher.

Marty Baronthe famous former editor-in-chief of Washington Postdelivered a rare and scathing criticism to the newspaper over its decision not to gain the president’s support for the first time since 1988.

“It’s cowardice, and democracy will be the victim,” Baron wrote in a post on social media. “(Trump) will see this as an invitation to further intimidate the owner (Jeff Bezos) (and others). A worrying spinelessness in an institution renowned for its courage.

In a vast note made public on Friday, Job editor Will Lewis announced that the newspaper “will not support a presidential candidate in this election.”

“Nor in a future presidential election,” he added. “We’re going back to our roots of not supporting presidential candidates. »

The decision sparked outrage inside and outside the Jobsome staff members went so far as to publicly oppose it on social networks.

Paul Farhia veteran journalist who worked for years at Jobtold Mediaite that he was surprised by the news.

“It’s surprising. “It’s a policy change,” he said. “They’ve been supportive for the last forty years.”

Speculation abounded on social media Friday that the decision was made by Lewis, a British journalist who made his name working for many conservative media outlets, including The telegraph and various properties in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

However, according to information published in the Washington Post itself, the decision to delete the amendment was taken by Jeff Bezosthe Amazon billionaire founder and owner of Job who could face retaliation from Donald Trump if he were elected president again. During Trump’s first term, Amazon accused him of punishing the company in retaliation for Messages blanket.

Farhi stressed that the Job will continue to publish editorials on presidential candidates and said the decision to withhold support is puzzling.

“Maybe you don’t approve of Trump, maybe you don’t approve of Harris, but do you think you’re not going to publish op-eds on this or that policy? Of course you will. I don’t really understand why you wouldn’t want to say that in our opinion this person is better than that person.

Farhi added: “I’m perplexed by how the presidential election is somehow different from all the other things you’re editing about. »

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