The Art Of Politics Extra: Ann Telnaes Quits ‘Washington Post’ After Cartoon Killed
by Richard Bruton
Acclaimed political cartoonist Ann Telnaes quits her 16-year role as political cartoonist at The Washington Post after editorial killed a cartoon criticising billionaire tech/media chief execs for bowing and scraping to the President-elect.
Rare I do an Art of Politics Extra, usually saving things for the end-of-month political cartooning round-up. But this one’s important.
Ann Telnaes, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American editorial cartoonist of many years, has been creating her brilliant cartoons for The Washington Post since 2008. But no more. She resigned from the newspaper this past week, announcing her resignation on this Substack post, titled ‘Why I’m quitting the Washington Post’.
Her reasons are simple – editorial killed one of her cartoons. The one above, featuring the faces of big tech and big media abasing themselves in front of the incoming President. One of the men cartooned in this way is Jeff Bezos, known by most as the founder of Amazon, but also, not coincidentally, the owner of The Washington Post.
Here’s what Telnaes had to say…
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Completely agree. I’ve already seen some inane criticism that amounts to ‘well, you don’t criticise the guy writing your pay cheques.’ Yes, that works for many jobs. But not this one. As Telnaes says, to kill a cartoon for the point of view expressed, that’s a game changer.
Freedom of the press, including freedom of the political cartoonist, is important. In a world where the powerful only get more so, it’s vital that they are held to account, by free-thinking journalists the world over. Ann Telnaes and similar politic cartoonists are vital to that.
