Two of America's largest newspapers have refused to endorse a presidential candidate. This is how democracy dies

In February 2017, as Donald Trump took office, the Washington Post adopted the first slogan in its 140-year history: Democracy dies in darkness.

How ironic, then, that she is now helping to extinguish the flame of American democracy by refusing to support a candidate in the next presidential election.

This decision, and a similar decision by the second of America's three major newspapers, the Los Angeles Times, dishonors journalism, dishonors the newspaper's own heritage, and represents an abandonment of civic responsibility at a time when the United States are facing their most important presidential election since the Civil War.

At stake is whether the United States remains a functioning democracy or descends into a corrupt plutocracy led by a convicted felon who once incited violence to overturn a presidential election and has shown contempt for the conventions of on which democracy is based.

Why did they do it?

Why would two of the best newspapers in the Western world make such an irresponsible decision?

This cannot be based on a rational assessment of the respective fitness of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris for office.

Nor can it be based on their own reporting and analysis of the candidates, in which the lies and threats issued by Trump were fearlessly recorded. In this context, the decision not to support a candidate is a betrayal of one's own editorial staff. Post editor Robert Kagan resigned in protest of the paper's decision not to support Harris.

This leaves, in my opinion, a combination of cowardice and greed as the only possible explanation. Both newspapers are owned by American billionaire businessmen: The Post by Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, and the LA Times by Patrick Soon-Shiong, who made his billions through biotechnology.

Bezos purchased the Post in 2013 through his private investment firm Nash Holdings, and Soon-Shiong purchased the Times in 2018 through his investment firm Nant Capital. Both run the personal risk of suffering financially if a Trump presidency proves hostile towards them.

During the election campaign, Trump made numerous threats of retaliation against media outlets that oppose him. He has indicated that if he returns to the White House, he will take revenge on the news outlets that anger him, throw journalists in jail and strip major television networks of their broadcast licenses in retaliation for coverage that 'he doesn't like it.

Logic would dictate that in the face of these threats, the media would do everything in their power to oppose a Trump presidency, if not out of respect for democracy and freedom of expression, then at least out of self-confidence. preservation. But fear and greed are among the most powerful human drives.

The takeover of these two giants of the American press by rich businessmen is a consequence of the financial pressures exerted on professional media by the Internet and social networks.

Bezos was welcomed with open arms by the Graham family, who have owned the Post for four generations. But the newspaper faced unsustainable financial losses resulting from the loss of Internet advertising.

At first, he was seen not only by the Grahams, but also by the editor, Marty Baron, as a savior. He pumped large sums of money into the newspaper, allowing it to regain much of the prestige and journalistic ability it had lost.

Baron, in his book Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and The Washington Post, was full of praise for Bezos' financial commitment to the paper and his courage in the face of Trump's hostility. During Trump's presidency, the newspaper kept a log of his lies, tallying them at 30,573 over four years.

Faced with this story, the newspaper's abdication of its responsibilities can now only be explained by a reference to Bezos' loss of heart.

At the LA Times, the Otis-Chandler families' ownership also spanned four generations, but the impact of the Internet also had disastrous consequences there. Between 2000 and 2018, its property passed through three hands, ending with Soon-Shiong.

Both newspapers reached the height of their journalistic achievements in the last three decades of the 20th century, winning the Pulitzer Prize and, in the Post's case, becoming world famous for their coverage of the Watergate scandal.

This, at a time when American democracy operated according to convention, led to the resignation of Richard Nixon as president.

The two journalists responsible for this coverage, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, released a statement on the decision not to support a candidate:

Marty Baron, who was a ferociously tough editor, posted on X: This is cowardice, with democracy as the victim.

Today, among the big three, only the New York Times is willing to endorse a candidate for next month's election. He supported Harris, saying of Trump: It is difficult to imagine a candidate more unworthy to become president of the United States.

Why is this important?

This is important because in democracies, the media is the means by which voters learn not only the facts but also the informed opinions of those who, through their access and close relationships, are well-placed to evaluate the candidates between whom these voters must choose. . This is an essential function of the media in democratic societies.

Their failure is symptomatic of the malaise into which American democracy has sunk.

In 2018, two Harvard government professors, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, published a book called How Democracies Die. It was both thoughtful and prophetic. Noting that the United States was now more polarized than at any time since the Civil War, they wrote:

America is no longer a democratic model. A country whose president attacks the press, threatens to incarcerate his rival, and says he might not accept the election results cannot credibly defend democracy. Potential and existing autocrats will likely be emboldened by Trump's presence in the White House.

Symbolically, the fact that the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times should have disappeared at that time recalls the remark made in 1914 by the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey:

Lights are going out all over Europe. We will not see them again in our lifetime.

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