Washington Post says it won’t endorse anyone for president

The Washington Post’s chief executive told the newsroom Friday that it would not endorse a presidential candidate, breaking with decades of precedent at the newspaper.

“The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election,” wrote Will Lewis, the Post’s chief executive. “Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”

The Post has endorsed presidential candidates since 1976, Lewis wrote, when it gave its stamp of approval to Jimmy Carter, who went on to win the election. Before that, it generally did not make presidential endorsements, though it made an exception in 1952 to endorse Dwight Eisenhower.

The move follows continuing tumult at The Los Angeles Times, where the head of the editorial board and two of its writers have resigned this week in protest over a decision by the Times’ billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, to block a planned presidential endorsement.