ALL THE VICE-PRESIDENT’S MEN: “Surprising and disappointing:” Woodward and Bernstein respond to Bezos blocking WaPo endorsement.

Two of the most famed reporters to ever work for the Washington Post are sounding off on owner Jeff Bezos‘ decision to squash any presidential endorsement from the paper.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the duo that broke the Watergate scandal for the paper and brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon*, called Bezos’ move “surprising and disappointing” in a joint statement.

“We respect the traditional independence of the editorial page, but this decision 11 days out from the 2024 presidential election ignores the Washington Post’s own overwhelming reportorial evidence on the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy,” they shared. “Under Jeff Bezos’s ownership, the Washington Post’s news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and damage a second Trump presidency could cause to the future of American democracy and that makes this decision even more surprising and disappointing, especially this late in the electoral process.”

* In 2004, “Woodward [dismissed] both detractors and fans who contend that the media unseated a president. ‘To say that the press brought down Nixon, that’s horseshit,’ he says. ‘The press always plays a role, whether by being passive or by being aggressive, but it’s a mistake to overemphasize’ the media’s coverage.”

Despite that, as Joseph Campbell explored in 2022 in a textbook “Media Myth Alert:” Watergate at 50: Why the ‘heroic-journalist’ myth still defines the scandal.

Curiously, modern-day Posties, while angry with the paper, still want to keep getting their lucrative paychecks signed by Jeff Bezos:

Playing a factor in the calculus of that decision maybe the concern that their potential readers could be even dumber if they leave the Post and go elsewhere: