Editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes
Courtesy of Ann Telnaes
A Washington Post The cartoonist resigned from her job at the paper, saying her bosses blocked the publication of a satirical cartoon depicting billionaires, including one resembling the Post’s owner. Jeff Bezoskneeling before the president-elect Donald Trump.
Anne Telnaesa Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, said in a blog post Friday that she leave the newspaper after a design has been rejected. It was the first time at the Post that a drawing was “killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at,” Telnaes wrote.
A sketch of the drawing, posted on Telnaes’ Substack blog, shows several men kneeling in front of a taller man wearing a suit and long tie, depicting Trump. Telnaes wrote that the resemblances are those of Metaplatforms CEO Mark ZuckerbergSam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Patrick Soon-Shiong, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, and Bezos. Three of the men are holding bags of money. Also included is a drawing of the cartoon character Mickey Mouse, depicting Walt Disney‘ABC News.
Satirical cartoon by Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes, who resigned after her rejection.
Courtesy of Ann Telnaes
The design was flatly rejected by the newspaper, with no suggestions of potential changes, Telnaes told CNBC in an email.
David Shipley, the Washington Post’s editorial page editor, said in a statement that the cartoon was rejected because of its similarity to the newspaper’s articles, not because of the person in question.
“I respect Ann Telnaes and all she has given to the Post. But I must disagree with her interpretation of events. Not all editorial judgments are a reflection of a malevolent force. My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same subject as the cartoon and had already scheduled the publication of another column – this one being a satire – “The only bias was against repetition”, indicates the press release. by Shipley.
The cartoonist’s departure comes amid controversy over how media and business leaders treated Trumpbefore and after the November elections.
THE Washington Post reported that Bezos spiked planned support for Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris by the newspaper before the presidential election. At the Los Angeles Times, Soon-Shiong also decided that the newspaper should refuse any approval in the presidential race, causing the resignation of several members of the editorial committee.
ABC News, meanwhile, settled a defamation lawsuit with Trump for $15 millionwhich drew criticism from some media law experts who believed the news agency had a strong case.
Bezos and Zuckerberg, through Meta, planned to donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, the The Wall Street Journal reported last monthand were among several billionaires to meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home since his election victory. Several media outlets have reported that OpenAI’s Altman is also donate 1 million dollars to the inauguration fund.
The senator Elizabeth WarrenD-Mass., weighed on Telnaes’ resignation on a lower tax rate than a public school teacher. “
Telnaes’ departure is the latest in a series of internal reshuffles at the Post. Publisher and CEO Will Lewis took over the paper last year and clashed with the newsroom, as reported by NPR. Several of the paper’s editors have left since Lewis took over.
Telnaes won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 2001. She wrote on her blog that she had worked for the Post since 2008.
