According to a report, the Washington Post — hit by a mass exodus of subscribers over its refusal to endorse Kamala Harris — “aggressively stepped up its paid advertising campaign” on social media platforms that promote stories critical of Donald Trump, according to a report. , according to a report.
Owner Jeff Bezos has faced backlash over his decision last week to kill the endorsement for the vice president, which has led to the resignation of several top employees and the loss of more than 250,000 digital subscribers.
On Thursday, the Semafor news site reported that the publication had run an ad earlier in the week on social media sites like Facebook that boosts its anti-Trump coverage.
Promoted stories centered around the former president’s campaign rhetoric, misstatements, supporters leaving his rallies early and Trump’s controversial comments about immigrants in Ohio eating dogs, Semaphore reported.
In contrast, stories promoted about his Democratic challenger were neutral in tone and informative, Semafor found.
Before Monday, the paper had run about a dozen Facebook ads for the month of October, mostly promoting the Washington Post brand and avoiding any mention of Trump.
The New York Post reached out to WashPo for comment.
A source close to the situation told the New York Post that the Washington Post’s promoted stories on social media reflect high-performing content.
The content of the advertising posts is taken directly from the relevant reporting, according to the source.
“This is not new,” the source insisted.
The Washington Post’s promoted posts include a mix of its content across all its verticals, including climate, style and other sections, the source added.
The Beltway newspaper’s increase in paid advertising this week may also be a reflection of parent company Facebook Meta’s policy of banning new ads during election week, which is set for Tuesday.
A source said the Washington Post is likely to run some new ads before the tech giant freezes new ad buys.
As of Thursday, at least 250,000 readers — or 10% — canceled their digital subscriptions to the Washington Post in apparent protest of Bezos’ move to end the paper’s decades-long practice of endorsing a presidential candidate, according to National Public Radio.
Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, published a guest essay on Monday, saying the decision to drop the endorsements was a matter of “principle” aimed at dispelling the notion that his paper was biased.
But the move sparked howls of protest from readers on social media, as well as journalists who are either former Washington Post employees or currently employed there, such as Watergate sleuths Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
At least three editorial staff resigned from the paper.
After Bezos’ decision was announced last Friday, some of the paper’s top editors and columnists met to discuss the controversy.
David Shipley, the paper’s opinion editor, listened as his colleagues attacked Bezos for damaging the publication’s reputation as an “independent journalistic organization,” according to the Washington Free Beacon, which obtained audio of the meeting.
One staffer reportedly told Shipley that “the one thing that cannot happen in this country is that Trump has four more years.”
Shipley responded by telling staff that they were welcome to express their frustration, but that they would then have to accept Bezos’ decision and move on — or resign.
“Whatever you decide, I’m fine with it,” Shipley said.
“What I really want to give is that you don’t get stuck in the middle. Don’t be here if you don’t want to.”
Shipley told his colleagues that he spent an hour on the phone with Bezos in an attempt to get him to change his mind and allow the editorial board to issue its endorsement to Harris — but the tycoon refused to budge.
He said that while he agreed with “the principle that you shouldn’t do presidential endorsements,” he took issue with “Bezos’ timing and the way the timing could be read.”
A similar dynamic has played out at the Los Angeles Times, where billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong blocked the editorial board from publishing Harris’ endorsement.
Soon-Shiong said she wanted the editorial board to present a side-by-side comparative analysis of the two candidates and their positions so that readers can decide for themselves who to support.
At least three LA Times employees resigned in protest, and between 10,000 and 18,000 readers canceled their subscriptions to the paper, according to reports.
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