Quick summary:
• Ann Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for The Washington Post, resigned after the paper refused to publish her cartoon showing billionaires, including Jeff Bezos, bowing before president-elect Donald Trump.
• The Post claimed the decision to kill the cartoon was due to concerns over redundancy with other content, but critics believe it was done to protect Bezos from criticism.
• Telnaes described the censorship as a dangerous precedent for a free press, stating that it was the first time her work was pulled because of the subject matter.
• The resignation follows a pattern of the Post taking actions perceived to be in favor of Trump, including Bezos’s controversial decision to halt the paper’s presidential endorsement.
• Media analysts have pointed out Bezos’s efforts to build a positive relationship with Trump, including a $1 million donation to his inauguration and hosting events at Mar-a-Lago.
• The incident highlights a broader issue of billionaire ownership of media outlets, which critics say can undermine editorial independence and democratic values.
• The Post has seen significant backlash, including subscription cancellations and talent departures, as concerns mount over Bezos’s influence on its editorial decisions.
Ann Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist at The Washington Post, has resigned in protest after the newspaper refused to publish her cartoon depicting several billionaires, including the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, bowing before president-elect Donald Trump. The incident has reignited debates over press freedom and the growing influence of billionaire media owners on editorial independence.
Telnaes, who had been with the Post since 2008, submitted a cartoon shortly before Christmas that included Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, and a Mickey Mouse figure representing Disney. The cartoon criticized their financial contributions to Trump’s inauguration committee. However, the Post’s editorial team refused to publish it, prompting Telnaes to step down and share her resignation letter on her Substack.
“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,” Telnaes wrote in her resignation post. “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.”
David Shipley, the Post’s opinions editor, defended the decision to pull Telnaes’s cartoon, citing concerns over repetitiveness. “Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force,” Shipley said in a statement. “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column — this one a satire — for publication. The only bias was against repetition.”
However, critics argue that the explanation doesn’t hold up. The Post has frequently published cartoons and opinion pieces on similar topics within short timeframes, including recent coverage of Republican infighting and Biden’s death penalty commutations.
Deputy opinions editor David Von Drehle added to the controversy by dismissing the cartoon’s quality. “I didn’t think it was a very good cartoon. It seemed pretty ham-handed to me,” Von Drehle told Post media critic Erik Wemple.
Telnaes’s resignation comes just months after The Washington Post, for the first time in decades, chose not to endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election. The decision, widely attributed to Bezos’s influence, came despite the paper’s editorial board repeatedly warning about the dangers of another Trump presidency.
In an op-ed published in late October, Bezos attempted to justify the decision not to issue a presidential endorsement. He argued that the Post’s editorial section was contributing to readers’ skepticism of the paper’s overall reporting. “You can see my wealth and business interests as a bulwark against intimidation, or you can see them as a web of conflicting interests,” Bezos wrote. “Only my own principles can tip the balance from one to the other. I assure you that my views here are, in fact, principled.”
Critics, however, saw the move as a transparent attempt to curry favor with Trump. Just days before the op-ed was published, Bezos’s aerospace company Blue Origin had executives meet with Trump, and Bezos himself made a $1 million donation to Trump’s inauguration fund.
The decision to censor Telnaes’s cartoon and the broader shift in the Post’s editorial direction have sparked outrage among media professionals and readers. Oliver Darcy, a media journalist, noted that The Washington Post is experiencing an unprecedented exodus of talent. “The Post is shedding talent at an unprecedented rate,” Darcy observed, adding that Bezos’s handling of the endorsement controversy led to over 300,000 readers canceling their subscriptions.
Following Telnaes’s resignation, media critics expressed concerns about the erosion of press freedom. “The role of a political cartoonist is to speak truth to power,” said Jon Allsop of the Columbia Journalism Review. “When media owners prioritize their financial interests over journalistic integrity, it threatens the very foundation of a free press.”
Telnaes’s resignation highlights a growing concern over the influence of billionaire media owners on news outlets. Jeff Bezos’s ownership of The Washington Post is part of a broader trend of billionaires acquiring media companies, raising questions about the impact on editorial independence.
Other notable examples include Rupert Murdoch’s ownership of Fox News and Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. Critics argue that billionaire owners can shape media narratives to align with their personal or business interests, undermining the press’s role as a watchdog for democracy.
Ben Rankin, a legal expert with the Center for Biological Diversity, expressed concern over the consolidation of media ownership. “When billionaires control major media outlets, it’s no longer about journalism. It’s about protecting their investments,” Rankin said.
Bezos’s financial contributions to Trump’s inauguration and his statements praising Trump’s regulatory agenda have raised further questions about his influence on The Washington Post’s editorial decisions.
Bezos donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund and offered in-kind contributions, including broadcasting the event on Amazon Prime, valued at another $1 million. He also paid $40 million for the rights to a documentary on Melania Trump, with the former first lady serving as an executive producer.
During a recent interview, Bezos expressed optimism about working with Trump. “He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation, and if I can help him do that, I’m going to help him,” Bezos said.
The backlash against The Washington Post’s editorial decisions and its refusal to cover internal controversies have further damaged the paper’s credibility. Executive editor Matt Murray reportedly issued a directive to stop covering the paper’s internal issues, a move that media critics argue limits transparency.
The Post has also faced criticism for its layoffs, which affected 4% of its workforce. Critics argue that the paper’s declining credibility and staff morale are the direct result of Bezos’s influence and the prioritization of business interests over journalistic values.
The censorship of Telnaes’s cartoon and the broader trends at The Washington Post are indicative of a growing threat to press freedom in the United States. As billionaires like Bezos continue to acquire major media outlets, there is an urgent need to safeguard editorial independence and ensure that journalists can hold power accountable.
“The role of the press is to speak truth to power,” Telnaes said. “When that role is compromised, democracy itself is at risk.”
COMMENTS