A recent report reveals that The Washington Post rejected a $115,000 advertisement urging President Trump to dismiss DOGE leader Elon Musk, sparking fresh concerns about censorship at the publication, which is owned by Jeff Bezos.
The advocacy group Common Cause had planned for the anti-Musk ad, designed to wrap around the front and back pages, to appear this week. However, it was pulled without any explanation from management, according to The Hill.
Common Cause, in collaboration with the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, had budgeted $115,000 for both the wraparound ad and a similar full-page advertisement inside the paper, The Hill reported.
“We are forced to ask ourselves if the Washington Post — a pillar of investigative journalism during Watergate — is unwilling to challenge those in power?” Virginia Kase Solomón, president of Common Cause, said in a statement to the New York Post.
“Under Jeff Bezos’ ownership, concerns about corporate influence over the press have only grown, and this decision raises serious questions about the paper’s independence.”
A spokesperson for The Washington Post referred the New York Post to the paper’s advertising policy, which grants it the right to accept or reject any ad.
The proposed ad included a large image of Musk in front of the White House, with the provocative question: “Who’s running this country: Donald Trump or Elon Musk?”
“The Constitution only allows for one president at a time. Call your senators and tell them it’s time Donald Trump fire Elon Musk,” the ad continued, as reported by The Hill.
Internal strife at the Beltway newspaper has intensified since Bezos blocked a presidential endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris in October.
Just last month, staffers requested a meeting with Bezos to address concerns that were leading “readers to question the integrity of this institution.”
Ahead of the planned ad, Common Cause had sent a copy to the Washington Post’s advertising department, and an ad sales representative had appeared confident that the ad would be approved, with no significant issues raised, Solomón told The Hill.
The ads were intended to be distributed to subscribers in places like Congress, the Pentagon, and the White House.
However, the paper informed Common Cause that it could not proceed with the wraparound ad but could still run the one inside the paper.
“We said, ‘Thanks, no thanks,’ because we had a lot of questions,” Solomón told The Hill.
She noted that the Washington Post had even provided sample artwork to Common Cause as a template for its ad.
The sample featured a wraparound ad with a large image of Trump giving a thumbs-up to highlight his pledge to “end the electric vehicle mandate on Day 1,” funded by the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, according to The Hill.
“It was a thank-you Donald Trump piece of art,” Solomón said.
Following the cancellation, some users on social media began sharing the ad on X, using it as an example of the paper’s increasing acquiescence to Trump.
“Democracy dies on the cutting room floor,” Pulitzer-winning journalist Mike Stanton posted on X, reworking the Washington Post’s famous slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”
Earlier this month, Common Cause launched its “Fire Elon Musk” campaign, aiming to challenge Musk’s growing influence as a close ally of Trump.
Musk oversees the Department of Government Efficiency, a task force focused on reducing federal spending.
The DOGE initiative has put a halt on federal funding and has even suggested the government “delete entire agencies.”
Simultaneously, the left-leaning Washington Post has faced criticism from both internal staff and readers since the endorsement debacle.
Over 250,000 subscribers canceled their subscriptions in the aftermath of the news that the editorial board had been blocked from endorsing Harris.
Members of the editorial board, along with veteran reporters, responded by submitting scathing resignation letters.
{Matzav.com}
Ya, Musk is terrible. He should be impeached for exposing that the Treasury Dept had no traceability for almost $4.7 TRILLION DOLLARS in U.S. taxpayer funds; $2.7 TRILLION DOLLARS improper pmts to Medicaid, Medicare, and overseas organizations; almost $5 TRILLION DOLLARS from USAID for vaccines that have killed millions of innocent people worldwide; $150 BILLION DOLLARS for Climate Change hoax, $100s of BILLIONS DOLLARS from Social Security to people who don’t exist and are over 250 years old; and $MILLIONS and $BILLIONS DOLLARS more to….