Journalists around the world were once inspired by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to commit to significant investigative journalism.

The pair, with significant help from a Deep Throat source, brought down a US President, Richard Nixon, over the Watergate break in and cover up.

But now the once great newspaper they worked for, The Washington Post, which brought the President down is too timid to call for a vote against a fascist.

Woodward and Carl Bernstein late last week released a joint statement over the newspaper’s decision not to endorse a White House candidate in 2024.

The paper’s editorial board had planned to publish an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, but billionaire Post owner Jeff Bezos personally squashed the plan.

Woodward and Bernstein issued a statement to CNN saying: “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. 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”

CNN reported that “An endorsement of Harris had been drafted by Post editorial page staffers but had yet to be published, according to two people who were briefed on the sequence of events and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.”

Post publisher Will Lewis (actually Sir William) released a statement saying that “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”

And what were those roots? A quote from a 1960 editorial saying: “The Washington Post has not ‘endorsed’ either candidate in the presidential campaign. That is in our tradition and accords with our action in five of the last six elections. The unusual circumstances of the 1952 election led us to make an exception when we endorsed General Eisenhower prior to the nominating conventions and reiterated our endorsement during the campaign. In the light of hindsight, we retain the view that the arguments for his nomination and election were compelling. But hindsight also has convinced us that it might have been wiser for an independent newspaper in the Nation’s Capital to have avoided formal endorsement.”

Lewis also said: “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.”

“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.”

Character, courage veneration for the rule of law, respect for freedom in all respects! How on earth could those words be used in deciding not to make a decision between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump? After all, in 2024 the choice is between a well-credentialed woman and a seriously cognitively impaired candidate who aspires to be surrounded by Nazi Generals while behaving like Mussolini – right down to how he holds his chin in a pseudo tough guy way.

Moreover 1960 is, obviously, 64 years ago but much has changed in the years since, and one wonders about how relevant it is today. Since then, there have been Presidents who have been crooks, cognitively challenged and/or incompetent – but no one like Trump.

Marty Baron, former Post editor and famous for his editorship of the Boston Globe when it exposed massive priestly abuse of children, said: “This is cowardice, with democracy as its casualty. Donald Trump will see this is an invitation to further intimidate owner Bezos.” Trump had already attacked Bezos financially by blocking Amazon’s bid for a $US10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon.

CNN reported that a few hours after the Post decision Trump agreed to a meeting with Blue Origin, Bezos’ space exploration company, which has a $US3billion contract with the Government.

A number of Post staff have protested, and some staff and contributors have resigned.

One also has to wonder how Bezos’ former wife MacKenzie Scott Tuttle, an American novelist, philanthropist with a net worth of US$36.1 billion who has donated billions to charitable causes encouraging female empowerment, would feel about it endorsing a rapist and serial sexual harasser who boasts of grabbing women by “the pussy”.

Meanwhile media non-endorsement is now common in US media. Not as a matter of principle but more a product of trying to ride two horses at once and more importantly, because major media owners now have complex financial relationships with governments. Once they tried to intimidate governments but today the boot is on the other foot.

Rupert Murdoch is at least blatant in his support for right wing governments and makes no apology for it. But Bezos pretended he was different.

Now a once great newspaper which brought down a President is too timid to call for a vote against fascist.