Oct 28 (Reuters) - Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on

Monday defended the newspaper's decision not to endorse a U.S.

presidential candidate after a report that more than 200,000

people had canceled their digital subscriptions following the

move.

The decision blocked an endorsement of Democrat Vice

President Kamala Harris, the National Public Radio report said,

and many people in messages on the newspaper's website

criticized Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon.com ( AMZN )

and rocket company Blue Origin.

Bezos, in an opinion piece late on Monday, said "most people

believe the media is biased" and the Washington Post and other

newspapers needed to boost their credibility.

No candidate was informed or consulted about the decision

and that there was "no quid pro quo", Bezos said, adding that

there was no connection between the decision and a meeting

between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Blue

Origin's CEO on the same day.

"Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of

an election," Bezos wrote. "What presidential endorsements

actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of

non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it's

the right one."

The subscription cancellations as of midday represented

about 8% of the paper's paid circulation of 2.5 million

subscribers, which includes print as well, reported NPR, which

said a series of columnists had resigned their positions in

protest.

The Washington Post declined to comment on the report when

contacted by Reuters.

In a post on Friday, William Lewis, the Washington Post's

publisher and CEO, said the newspaper would not be making an

endorsement of a presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election,

nor in any future presidential election.

"We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential

candidates," Lewis wrote.

"The Washington Post's decision not to make an endorsement

in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake," wrote 20

columnists in an opinion piece on the Post's website, adding

that it "represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial

convictions of the newspaper that we love."