A controversial move at The Washington Post has led readers to abandon the newspaper in droves.
More than 200,000 people have canceled their digital subscriptions to the Post, NPR reported, citing "two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters." That's roughly 8% of the paper's paid circulation of 2.5 million subscribers. Several editorial staff and board members have also stepped down.
The mass exodus came after the paper announced on Friday that it would not endorse a candidate for president for the first time in more than 30 years. The decision was made by the company's owner, Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos.
"The problem is, people don't know why the decision was made. We basically know the decision was made but we don't know what led to it," former Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli told NPR.
In an article announcing its decision, made 11 days before the election, publisher and CEO William Lewis described the decision as "a return to the newspaper's roots of non-endorsement" and a "statement in support of our readers' ability to make up their own minds."
"We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility. That is inevitable," Lewis wrote. "We don't see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects."
The article noted that a planned endorsement of Vice President Harris had been drafted by Post editorial page staffers but it was blocked by Bezos, who decided the paper would no longer endorse candidates in any future election.
In an opinion piece published by the Post on Monday, Bezos admitted the timing of the decision wasn't ideal but that there was no "intentional strategy."
"Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election. No undecided voters in Pennsylvania are going to say, 'I'm going with Newspaper A's endorsement.' None," Bezos wrote. "What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it's the right one."
"I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here," he added. "Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision. It was made entirely internally."
The Post's decision came days after a similar move by the Los Angeles Times, which also triggered resignations from some editorial staff.
While some readers may be upset with the newspapers' decisions, canceling your subscription in protest really only hurts one side, according to Brauchli.
"It is a way to send a message to ownership but it shoots you in the foot if you care about the kind of in-depth, quality journalism like the Post produces," Brauchli told NPR.