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‘Americans Don’t Trust The News Media’: Bezos Speaks Out After WaPo Chose Not To Endorse Harris

Published

6 months ago

4 minute read

From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

 

By Mariane Angela

Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos said Monday that the Post’s decision not to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris is in response to a larger issue of media credibility being eroded.

Bezos pointed to the recent surveys on trust and public reputation, with media institutions consistently ranking near the bottom, in the article titled “The Hard Truth: Americans Don’t Trust the News Media,” published in the opinion section of the Post. This year, however, Gallup reports an even more dire verdict that journalism now holds the lowest spot in American trust, with Bezos arguing media credibility has eroded not only because of perceived biases but also due to an industry tendency to ignore public perception.

Bezos further explained that the most recent backlash surrounding the Post’s decision not to endorse Harris only highlights a growing issue that trust in the press depends on two pillars — the coverage being accurate, and it must be broadly trusted to be accurate. The choice not to endorse provoked outrage across liberal circles, but as Bezos stated in a rare public response, the decision is rooted not in partisanship but in a commitment to genuine independence.

“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. 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,” Bezos wrote.

Bezos acknowledged that this choice might appear strategically timed to favor one candidate over another, especially given a coincidental meeting between a top executive from Blue Origin, a company which Bezos also owns, and former President Donald Trump on the same day.

“I would also like to be clear that no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here. Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision,” he wrote to clarify that the decision was made internally.

Even so, Bezos is acutely aware of the larger challenges facing his newspaper and the industry at large, as the media’s credibility problem is neither isolated nor new. “Increasingly, we talk only to a certain elite,” Bezos reflected, contrasting today’s diminished public reach to the 80% household penetration WaPo achieved in the D.C. metro area during the 1990s.

“Now more than ever the world needs a credible, trusted, independent voice, and where better for that voice to originate than the capital city of the most important country in the world? To win this fight, we will have to exercise new muscles,” Bezos added.

WaPo reportedly saw a drop of over 200,000 subscriptions after CEO and Publisher William Lewis announced that, for the first time in decades, the paper’s editorial board will not endorse a presidential candidate, NPR reported. Following the decision, several staff members who supported Harris reportedly resigned in protest.

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Business

Trump demands free passage for American ships through Panama, Suez

Published on April 28, 2025

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MXM logo MxM News

Quick Hit:

President Donald Trump is pushing for U.S. ships to transit the Panama and Suez canals without paying tolls, arguing the waterways would not exist without America.

Key Details:

  • In a Saturday Truth Social post, Trump said, “American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America.”

  • Trump directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “immediately take care of, and memorialize” the issue, signaling a potential new diplomatic initiative with Panama and Egypt.

  • The Panama Canal generated about $3.3 billion in toll revenue in fiscal 2023, while the Suez Canal posted a record $9.4 billion. U.S. vessels account for roughly 70% of Panama Canal traffic, according to government figures.

Diving Deeper:

President Donald Trump is pressing for American ships to receive free passage through two of the world’s most critical shipping lanes—the Panama and Suez canals—a move he argues would recognize the United States’ historic role in making both waterways possible. In a post shared Saturday on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America.”

Trump added that he has instructed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “immediately take care of, and memorialize” the situation. His comments, first reported by FactSet, come as U.S. companies face rising shipping costs, with tolls for major vessels ranging from $200,000 to over $500,000 per Panama Canal crossing, based on canal authority schedules.

The Suez Canal, operated by Egypt, reportedly saw record revenues of $9.4 billion in 2023, largely driven by American and European shipping amid ongoing Red Sea instability. After a surge in attacks by Houthi militants on commercial ships earlier this year, Trump authorized a sustained military campaign targeting missile and drone sites in northern Yemen. The Pentagon said the strikes were part of an effort to “permanently restore freedom of navigation” for global shipping near the Suez Canal.

Trump has framed the military operations as part of a broader strategy to counter Iranian-backed destabilization efforts across the Middle East.

Meanwhile, in Central America, Trump’s administration is working to counter Chinese influence near the Panama Canal. On April 9th, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced an expanded partnership with Panama to bolster canal security, including a memorandum of understanding allowing U.S. warships and support vessels to move “first and free” through the canal. “The Panama Canal is key terrain that must be secured by Panama, with America, and not China,” Hegseth emphasized during a press conference in Panama City.

American commercial shipping has long depended on the canal, which reduces the shipping route between the U.S. East Coast and Asia by nearly 8,000 miles. About 40% of all U.S. container traffic uses the Panama Canal annually, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The United States originally constructed and controlled the Panama Canal following a monumental effort championed by President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century. After backing Panama’s independence from Colombia in 1903, the U.S. secured the rights to build and operate the canal, which opened in 1914. Although U.S. control ended in 1999 under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, the canal remains vital to U.S. trade.

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International

U.S. Army names new long-range hypersonic weapon ‘Dark Eagle’

Published on April 28, 2025

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One of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon Transporter Erector Launchers assigned to Bravo Battery, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery, Long Range Fires Battalion, 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, participates in exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 on Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Aug. 5, 2024.
1st Multi-Domain Task Force, U.S. Army photo | DVIDS

From The Center Square

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The U.S. Army’s newest long-range hypersonic weapon will be called “Dark Eagle” the Pentagon announced Thursday after a successful test flight.

The land-based, truck-launched system is armed with hypersonic missiles that travel 3,800 miles per hour with a range of 1,725 miles. They can reach the top of the Earth’s atmosphere and “remain just beyond the range of air and missile defense systems until they are ready to strike, and by then it’s too late to react,” according to Army statements in a March 2023 Congressional Research Service report.

In December, the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, in collaboration with the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs, completed a successful end-to-end flight test of a conventional hypersonic missile from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

“Hypersonic weapons will complicate adversaries’ decision calculus, strengthening deterrence,” said Patrick Mason, senior official performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. “Their speed, accuracy and versatility are befitting its new popular name, Dark Eagle.”

Army officials repeatedly delayed tests of the Dark Eagle system after failures in 2021 and 2022, according to the CRS report.

The U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office and the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs partnered to get land and sea variants of a hypersonic weapon system.

The use of a common hypersonic missile and joint test opportunities allow the services to pursue a more aggressive timeline for delivery and to realize cost savings, according to the Pentagon.

A Congressional Budget Office study from January 2023, buying 300 Intermediate-Range Hypersonic Boost-Glide Missiles, which are similar to the LRHW, was estimated to cost $41 million per missile in 2023 dollars.

But that’s just an estimate. Since the 2023 CBO cost estimate, the Pentagon has said little about the per missile cost of the LRHW.

With the Army planning to field LRHWs to units by the end of FY2025 – if the Army’s new leadership team concurs – an actual per missile cost should be available for policymakers,” according to the CRS note. “With an established per missile cost, the Army should also be able to provide Congress with details about the total LRHW stockpile it intends to procure and how long it will take to ‘grow’ the LRHW stockpile.”

The prime contractors on the project are Lockheed Martin, Dynetics Inc. and Dynetics Technical Solutions, according to the CBO report.

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