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.
While it isn’t uncommon for editorial page editors to object to visual metaphors within a cartoon if it strikes that editor as unclear or isn’t correctly conveying the message intended by the cartoonist, such
editorial criticism was not the case regarding this cartoon. 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.
As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and
institutions accountable. For the first time, my editor prevented me
from doing that critical job. So I have decided to leave the Post. I
doubt my decision will cause much of a stir and that it will be
dismissed because I’m just a cartoonist. But I will not stop holding
truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say, “Democracy
dies in darkness”.
Thank you for reading this.
https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-quitting-the-washington-post
Thank you for writing this.
--
“We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him. We shouldn’t have listened to him, and we can’t let that happen ever again”.
-- Nikki Haley
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