Reader backlash against decision not to make presidential endorsement rolls on despite Bezos defense of decision

Deterioration of the Washington Post’s subscriber base continued on Tuesday, hours after its proprietor, Jeff Bezos, defended the decision to forgo formally endorsing a presidential candidate as part of an effort to restore trust in the media.

The publication has now shed 250,000 subscribers, or 10% of the 2.5 million customers it had before the decision was made public on Friday, according to the NPR reporter David Folkenflik.

A day earlier, 200,000 had left according to the same outlet.

The numbers are based on the number of cancellation emails that have been sent out, according to a source at the paper, though the subscriber dashboard is no longer viewable to employees.

MBFC
Archive

  • Jo Miran
    51•2 months ago

    I have commented how that decision led me to cancel my WaPo subscription which then snowballed into cancellations of Audible, Kindle Unlimited, Prime Video (ad-less), Amazon Photos, etc. Today I was chatting with my wife and she has now discarded the idea of using Blue Origin’s satellite based internet access over Starlink. That’s fifteen mobile response units where Jeff’s space junk won’t be considered.

    • Em Adespoton
      25•2 months ago

      Wait… your wife is ditching Kupier, which doesn’t exist yet, because of a single stunt Bezos pulled, but Starlink, run by the guy funding Trump’s election campaign, is still in the running?

      • Jo Miran
        12•2 months ago

        Ditching the idea of transitioning to Kupier once available, yes. For now, most of the units are suspended (zero cost) until needed. My hope is that other options become available.

      • Jo Miran
        14•2 months ago

        Yes, and we are desperate to ditch it. The idea was to switch to Blue Origin Amazon’s Project Kuiper as soon as it became available. Now it’s fucked if we do and fucked if we don’t.

        That said, fourteen of the Starlink units are suspended until needed, which means no monthly payments.

        EDIT: I mistakenly called the satellite project Blue Origin.

        • @[email protected]
          9•2 months ago

          Totally fair. And there are definitely reasons to dislike Bezos but on the which of the two is worse… Going Musk over Bezos feels a little.like the folks claiming trump will be better for Palestineans. Bezos didn’t let his paper endorse trump, Musk is full on bribing people, campaign rallying for trump etc.

          But to each their own, like I said, plenty of reasons to dislike Bezos.

      • @[email protected]
        11•2 months ago

        Yes, it is. It is very hard to escape having relations with capitalist conglomerates in most sectors, in some it is impossible. That is why having political control of the State is the only way of the working class to control the billionaires, if the economy side of society is not radically altered.

      • Jo Miran
        6•2 months ago

        Great information, thank you. My use of the Blue Origin name is my mistake. Regardless, the original goal was to ditch Starlink. Hopefully we will be able to do so.