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The Washington Post has lost at least 250,000 subscribers since announcing last Friday that it would not endorse a candidate for president — roughly 10 percent of its digital following, the newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Post would not officially confirm that figure, saying it was a private company, but it was reported in a story in the newspaper that cited documents and two unnamed sources who were familiar with the figures. Another non-endorsement last week has caused thousands of Los Angeles Times readers to cancel subscriptions, although not nearly at the Post’s level.

One journalism historian, Jon Marshall at Northwestern University, said he had a hard time recalling a comparable response, although a boycott of the Arkansas Gazette when it supported the integration of Little Rock schools in 1957 cost that newspaper more than $20 million in today’s dollars.

The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos, said presidential endorsements create a perception of bias at the newspaper while having little real influence on how readers vote. His said his only regret was making the decision known when passions are heated so close to Election Day; the paper’s editorial staff had reportedly prepared an endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris.

“A lot of people would have forgotten about the Harris endorsement slated to run in the newspaper,” the Post’s media critic, Erik Wemple, wrote. “Few will forget about the decision not to publish it.”

The Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, told employees in a staff meeting that there were “several positive days” of new subscribers signing up, although he didn’t mention any numbers, the newspaper reported.

Some of the Post’s angry digital readers have also already paid for a year’s access, and will retain that until their subscriptions expire.

“After another month or so, the election will have ended, and there may be people who say that ‘I need the Post more than they need me’ and come back,” said Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at the Poynter Institute.

The Post also saw a big increase in subscribers during Donald Trump’s presidency from people attracted to the newspaper’s aggressive coverage, raising the possibility of a repeat if the man that the newspaper wasn’t prepared to endorse is returned to office.

In the meantime, Edmonds said, “it’s very bad.” After losing readers during the Biden administration, the Post had reportedly seen positive signs of growth — until this week.

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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says she hopes countries from around the world will support a plan to bring back Ukrainian children who have been deported to Russia since the war in Ukraine began nearly three years ago.

Joly urged more than 60 delegations attending a ministerial conference in Montreal on Wednesday to make a “strong pledge” to ensure children and other Ukrainian civilians are returned home.

The Ukrainian government estimates that 19,500 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia and 1,800 civilians are unlawfully detained in the country, a senior Canadian official told The Canadian Press.

The official, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, said that 998 children have been returned to Ukraine to date, but finding deported children is a major challenge, in part because their names are often changed.

Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, told delegates that Russia is trying to destroy Ukrainian identity by deporting children.

Canada is co-chairing a working group on the release of prisoners and civilians with Ukraine and Norway, as part of a 10-point peace plan announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in November 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

VICTORIA – The New Democrat whose 27-vote, come-from-behind election victory is being credited with giving Premier David Eby a razor-thin majority says he’s a bridge builder in his diverse community and the party needs to forge similar relationships across British Columbia.

Garry Begg’s slim win over the B.C. Conservative candidate in Surrey-Guildford is still subject to a judicial recount, but for now it gives the NDP the 47 seats needed to form a majority in British Columbia’s 93-seat legislature.

Begg, a former RCMP officer who was first elected in 2017, was greeted with hugs and handshakes Wednesday as the NDP’s new caucus gathered at the legislature for its first meeting since before the Oct. 19 election.

“I don’t build walls. I build bridges. We have bridges to build here,” Begg said, referring communities across the province.

Begg was trailing B.C. Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa by more than 100 votes on election night but there were more than 600 mail-in and absentee ballots still to count.

He whittled down the margin to 12 votes by the time mail-ins were counted on Sunday, then on Monday he finally overtook Randhawa, a couple hours into the absentee count.

Now he said he’s being called the “Comeback Kid.”

“There’s a wealth of names besides what I’m normally called, which I won’t tell you about,” he said with a smile.

NDP House Leader Ravi Kahlon said now that the campaign is over, building strong relationships across the province will be one of the government’s primary goals.

“When we come back into here at the legislature our job is to represent everybody in B.C.,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what community you are in. It doesn’t matter who you voted for. That reaching out from different communities has been important for us for the last four years and certainly will be very important for the next four years as well.”

Most of the NDP members were elected in Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island, but relationship-building work with municipal governments, businesses, organizations and people in Prince George, Kelowna and other northern and Interior communities will be a major focus, Kahlon said.

Begg said he echoed the earlier comments of the premier, who said voters sent the NDP a strong message that they want change.

“I know that they want changes to the way we do things and that’s what we’re about,” he said. “We have to do that. We have to adapt.”

The NDP won a large majority government in 2020, taking 57 of the 87 seats in the legislature. But after all the ballots were counted on Monday, the New Democrats escaped with the barest majority of 47 seats in the expanded legislature.

The B.C. Conservatives have 44 seats, while the Green Party won two seats.

Eby said one of his first orders of business is putting together a new cabinet after losing five ministers during the election and seven who did not run.

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad has said he plans to ensure his new caucus will place intense pressure on the NDP to work to help everyday people in the province.

He said on Tuesday that he knows residents don’t want to go to another election right away, “however, when I look at the damage that has been done by David Eby, if he’s going to carry on with that path, then I would have no choice.”

A statement from the BC Chamber of Commerce urged all members to prioritize improving the state of the provincial economy.

“Without a strong economy, affordability will remain unachievable for British Columbians,” it said.

The province is falling behind in many sectors, it said, noting that 12,400 manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2017 and more than 10,000 forestry jobs were whittled away in the last four years.

“This is unprecedented and unsustainable,” the chamber said.

It said the members heard throughout the campaign that families, communities and businesses are all navigating extraordinary affordability challenges.

“Rising costs for essentials like housing and groceries are placing immense pressure on households, while many small businesses face growing difficulties meeting their payrolls and staying open for business.”

Eby told the media on Tuesday that he heard the message from voters in the tight election that they want the NDP to do better on issues that include public safety.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2024.