Cartoonist leaves ‘Washington Post’ after Bezos sketch murder: NPR

A Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for Washington Post resigned after the editor-in-chief of her editorial page rejected a cartoon she created to mock media and tech titans humiliating themselves in front of President-elect Donald Trump.

Among the business leaders represented by Ann Telnaes was the founder of Amazon and Job owner Jeff Bezos. The episode follows Bezos’ decision in October to block the release of a draft of Vice President Harris’ support for Trump in the final days of last year’s presidential elections.

The inspiration for Telnaes’ latest design was the trip of top tech executives, including Bezos, to Trump’s Florida estate at Mar-a-Lago, as well as the seven-figure contributions many pledged to do for his inauguration. She submitted a sketch before Christmas. It was never published.

“I’m very used to being edited,” Telnaes told NPR. “I have never done it, since I worked for the Job in 2008 we were not allowed to comment on certain topics by having caricatures killed.”

“We must have the freedom to say what we want to say,” adds Telnaes. “We are visual opinion makers.”

In a statement shared with NPR, editorial page editor David Shipley said he respected Telnaes’ contributions to the Job but disputed his interpretation of events.

“Not all editorial judgments are a reflection of a malevolent force,” he said. “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same subject as the cartoon and that we had already scheduled the publication of another column – this one being a satire. The only bias was against repetition.”

La Poste experienced a sharp increase in cancellations

Many readers reported a lack of trust in the newspaper — which adopted the motto “Democracy Dies in Darkness” during the Trump years — because of Bezos’ decision to block publication of Harris’ endorsement.

Three hundred thousand people canceled their digital subscriptions between NPR’s revelation of the decision on October 24 and Election Day, according to a person with direct knowledge.

This figure represents approximately 12% of all digital subscriptions. The newspaper sought to retain these customers before these cancellations took full effect. (Approximately 128,000 people subscribe to the print edition, according to the latest available figures from September.)

Bezos said he did not regret the decision regarding the Harris endorsement, but that he could have made it at a better time and denied that it had any connection to his multibillion-dollar business dealings with the federal government through Amazon and its space company Blue Origin.

Alongside Bezos, Telnaes depicted Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman bringing bags of cash to Trump. Los Angeles Times billionaire owner and medical innovator Patrick Soon-Shiong was shown carrying a tube of lipstick.

Mickey Mouse, the Walt Disney Co. avatar, was also prostrate. Last month, Disney settled a Trump defamation lawsuit against ABC News by agreeing to pay $15 million to a still-nonexistent Trump foundation and $1 million for its legal fees. .

Like Bezos, Soon-Shiong killed an op-ed supporting Harris, previously the state’s attorney general and senator from California. Around 20,000 Los Angeles Times subscribers canceled. Soon-Shiong recently told NPR that he acted to block reflexive liberal bias within the paper and because the editorial board did not interview Harris during her campaign. He emphasized that he had already spoken with Trump.

“Of course they’re businesses, and I understand that,” Telnaes told NPR. “But they own a newspaper and they have an obligation, frankly, to protect the free press. And I think with these billionaire tech titans (and) owners of news executives, their actions have an impact on this free press.”

Like Apple chief Tim Cook, Zuckerberg, Altman and Bezos announced they would make seven-figure donations to help cover the costs of Trump’s second inauguration.

Some staff members are leaving the post office after approval controversy

Telnaes said she submitted the design just before Christmas and then waited until Shipley returned from an overseas trip to speak to him after the new year. She says Shipley urged her to stay, but she could not, in good conscience, agree.

Three staffers left editorial board after Bezos’ decision on Harris endorsement, while a contributing writer resigned. At the time, Shipley made it clear to his colleagues that he wanted to publish it, but that he accepted the outcome. Journalists at the newspaper covered the episodes, and many opinion staff wrote criticism of Bezos for the Job and on social networks.

In the months that followed, a notable number of prominent journalists left the paper’s main newsroom. Interim editor-in-chief Matt Murray killed a story about then-editor Matea Gold leaving to THE New York Times.

The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists issue a statement in support of Telnaes, member and former president of the group:

“Once again, corporate billionaires have brought an editorial caricature to life with their cowardly censorship by kowtowing to a would-be tyrant,” the group said. “His principled resignation illustrates that while the pen is mightier than the sword, political cowardice is once again eclipsing journalistic integrity within the organization. The Washington Post“.