Washington Post loses 200,000 subscribers after it blocks Kamala Harris endorsement

'Terrible mistake' to not make an endorsement, 20 columnists at the newspaper say

The Washington Post announced it will not endorse Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump in the US presidential election. AP

More than 200,000 people had cancelled their digital subscriptions for The Washington Post by midday on Monday, after the newspaper’s decision to block an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for president, National Public Radio reported.

Not all cancellations take effect immediately, the NPR report said, adding that the figure still represents about 8 per cent of the outlet’s paid circulation of 2.5 million subscribers, including print.

Columnists have also resigned from the Post, which is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, NPR reported. The Washington Post declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters.

On Friday, William Lewis, the Post's publisher and chief executive, said the newspaper would not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in the November 5 election, nor in any future presidential election.

“We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” Lewis wrote.

“The Washington Post’s decision not to make an endorsement in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake,” wrote 20 columnists in an opinion piece on the Post’s website, adding that it “represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love".