Washington Post reportedly denies new slogan was inspired by Trump

It may not be “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” but The Washington Post is featuring a new motto on its website: “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

The words now appear underneath the masthead on the website on Tuesday. They were not, however, in a similar place in the paper’s print edition Wednesday. The paper denied that it was a response to President Trump’s recent criticism of the press.

Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos used the phrase in an interview last year when asked to explain why he purchased the paper in 2013.

“I think a lot of us believe this, that democracy dies in darkness, that certain institutions have a very important role in making sure that there is light. And I think The Washington Post has a seat, an important seat, to do that because we happen to be located here in the capital city of the United States of America,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the paper, Kris Coratti, said in an email that the paper began using the slogan last week with the launch of its new channel on Snapchat Discover. She said it went online Tuesday.

“This is actually something we’ve said internally for a long time in speaking about our mission. We thought it would be a good, concise value statement that conveys who we are to the many millions of readers who have come to us for the first time over the last year,” Coratti wrote.

John Podhoretz, a columnist, joked on Twitter, “Democracy Dies in Darkness But I Got This Cute Little Night-Light at Amazon for Just $4.99 and It’s Free Shipping Because I Have Prime.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report