By Adam Pagnucco.
Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes has quit the newspaper and blasted her former bosses on the way out. The reason? Her editor rejected a cartoon that included Post owner Jeff Bezos and President-elect Donald Trump.
Telnaes wrote about her decision on Substack. Following are her first two paragraphs and a rough of the rejected cartoon.
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I’ve worked for the Washington Post since 2008 as an editorial cartoonist. I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations—and some differences—about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now.
The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump. There have been multiple articles recently about these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-lago. The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.
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Telnaes notes how this rejection was different from routine interactions with editors, writing: “To be clear, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon’s commentary. That’s a game changer…and dangerous for a free press.”
This comes on top of Bezos’s now-infamous decision to not endorse in the U.S. presidential election and will further stain the Post’s reputation with many readers.