Ann Telnaes: Why I'm quitting the Washington Post

[Dennis Donovan]

Ann Telnaes - Why I'm quitting the Washington Post

Democracy can't function without a free press

Ann Telnaes
Editorial cartoonist
Jan 03, 2025

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.



Over the years I have watched my overseas colleagues risk their livelihoods and sometimes even their lives to expose injustices and hold their countries’ leaders accountable. As a member of the Advisory board for the Geneva based Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and a former board member of Cartoonists Rights, I believe that editorial cartoonists are vital for civic debate and have an essential role in journalism.

/snip

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Good for her.

[FakeNoose]

2. Brava, Ann Telnaes!

I hope you land on your feet....

Good luck!

[snowybirdie]

3. A lady

With GUTS!

[Scrivener7]

4. I so wish they would all band together and make a new, actually decent, newspaper.

[Ocelot II]

14. A number of former WaPo reporters got jobs with the Atlantic.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/washington-post-top-political-reporters-flee-for-the-atlantic-as-part-of-ongoing-staff-exodus/

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Oh, dear, this is a big loss.

This ought to give Bezos some regrets.

[MyOwnPeace]

10. Yeah - that'll happen...............

just as soon as IQ45/47 (it really hasn't gone up, by the way.......) says he's going to try to be a better person........... (I know, that's a tough one to even begin to consider without a little bit of throw-up in your throat).

[calimary]

26. I'd bet on no. "First you have to admit you have a problem."

I’d expect Bezos to walk the plank toward a big pool of alligators before he’d admit he might have made a mistake.

[RVN VET71]

38. Nah. Bezos hasn't the manhood to regret anything

He's a frightened opportunist who tickled Fat Donnie's cojones by rejecting the Harris endorsement of his formerly significant paper.

He likely thinks that cartoonists are a dime a dozen. Harlan Ellison tells a story about a TV exec who announced to his board that writers were a dime a dozen. Ellison, who attended that meeting, was fired after punching the s.o.b. in the face for saying that. Would that someone would do the same to Little Penis Rocket.

[JanMichael]

49. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

There is a newish Netflix adaptation called the Amazing Digital Circus. Not too bad. But the AM character isn't malevolent enough.

[Blue_Tires]

57. Please... He's laughing all the way to the bank with Donnie

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Great cartoon.

Shame on you WP.

[spooky3]

7. This is very sad. She's a great editorial cartoonist. I admire her principles but very sorry

to see WaPo continue to sink.

[JustAnotherGen]

8. Thank you Ms. Telnaes

History will be kind to you.

[SheltieLover]

9. Brava!

[MustLoveBeagles]

11. Good for her

[Hekate]

12. I'm trying the sign up for free option to her newsletter, but so far it hasn't shown up

I know where my Junk and Trash folders are, but not the Spam. I’ll keep trying — I love her cartoons and imho she is one of the best.

[ribrepin]

13. Just confirms I did the right thing when I canceled my subscription

when the non-endorsement during the presidential election occurred.

[Pinback]

24. Ditto.

It’s a pretty grim I-told-you-so for a once great newspaper.

[tonekat]

48. The WAPO needs to change it's motto

From: Democracy Dies In Darkness
To: We Are The Darkness

[Kablooie]

15. Wow. I'm impressed that she's doing this but horrified that she has to.

I worked with her back in the 1980s.

[NJCher]

16. tell us more!

Were you a cartoonist, too? (just noting your avatar)

[Kablooie]

35. We were both working on "The Brave Little Toaster" in Taiwan.

[calimary]

36. Cool!

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Wow.

I love her "animated" editorial cartoons. People may have seen me post this one frequently -



I hope she is able to land somewhere where she will be appreciated.

[Blue_Tires]

56. I have no doubt she'll get hired somewhere quickly

[boonecreek]

18. Way to go Ann! 😁

I hope she doesn't have too hard a time finding a paper that doesn't mind her skewering Trump.

[Aviation Pro]

19. That bald-headed fuck is going to rue the day he bent his fucking knee to Motherfucker

In fact, the billionaire class is going to go through some things real soon.

[BComplex]

44. I so so hope you're right about that, AP!

It needs to happen.

[AverageOldGuy]

20. We need more people . . .

. . . with these standards.

[Exp]

21. Yes, the pitchforks will be coming out. eom

[TBF]

22. Congrats, Ann! I subscribed to the Boston Globe

when I ended my Wash Post subscription (I used to live/work in Wash DC - I subscribed for decades).

But the Globe had a really cheap 6-month subscriber intro rate, and they endorsed both Kamala Harris and of course Elizabeth Warren. I read many stories from it daily now and really enjoy it! Maybe you could send them a story or two??

[dalton99a]

23. The Washington Post is dead to me.

[Pris]

25. I canceled when Bezos denied the editorial board their endorsement

And I am happy to see Ms. Telanes leave that paper.

[chouchou]

27. A wonderful person that has what we DU's love.....INTEGRITY

[miyazaki]

28. Gonna report on this Stephanopoulos? nt

[GoCubsGo]

29. One more reason she's one of my favorite political cartoonists.

I hope she lands somewhere much better.

[Pas-de-Calais]

30. She speaks truth

[COL Mustard]

31. Democracy Dies In Darkness on a Friday night.

What a loss for my hometown paper. It used to be so good. I guess I will have to stick with the NYT and Times of London for most of my news now. About the only thing the Post is good for is news about the Federal Government, and I can also get that elsewhere.

Thanks, Ann, for being a part of the editorial scene and for bringing entertaining and enlightening cartoons to us. Good luck with wherever you land. They will be lucky to have you.

[SunSeeker]

32. Thank you, Ann Telnaes. Jeff Bezos must sell WaPo to someone who actually wants it to be a newspaper.

WaPo right now is just a gutless vanity project enabling a fascist.

Katherine Graham is rolling in her grave.

[JHB]

33. Well, if I hadn't already cancelled my subscription, this would have done it

Access to A.T.'s cartoons was my main reason for subscribing in the first place.

[electric_blue68]

34. Woah, I Thought that Name looked Familiar! Good Luck & TY, AnnTelnaes!

And TY, Dennis D for the heads up.

When I had a 6 month a free or low cost subscription some years back I enjoyed her work.

[Mike 03]

37. Outstanding. I've read that a number of WaPo writers are

moving to The Atlantic.

Kicking for morning DUers who may have missed...

[jayschool2013]

39. If you've canceled your Washington Post subscription

and want to support journalism, may I politely suggest that your first dollar might go to your local news site, or a student-led news site at a local college or university.

National news is great, but there's also this warning from the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University:

In news deserts, Trump won in a landslide
But what does this election-result correlation mean?

by Paul Farhi and John Volk | volk_maps

Donald Trump won the 2024 election with one of the smallest popular-vote margins in U.S. history, but in news deserts – counties lacking a professional source of local news – it was an avalanche. Trump won 91% percent of these counties over his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, according to an analysis of voting data by Medill Journalism School’s State of Local News project.

While Trump’s national popular-vote margin was just under 1.5%, his margin in news deserts was massive. He won these counties by an average of 54 percentage points. In the few won by Harris, her margin was a comparatively slim 18 points, the analysis shows.

The findings are based on results from 193 of the 206 counties Medill has identified as news deserts, in states where county-level election results are currently available. The third annual State of Local News report, released by Medill’s Local News Initiative in October, documented the continuing decline of local news across the country, as measured by the number of newspapers, circulation, frequency of publication, employment and readership.

The report found that the highest concentration of counties with limited access to local news were in solidly “red” states, such as Texas, Kentucky, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana and Mississippi.

[Paladin]

40. I've enjoyed her work for years. She's one of the very best.

Hope her career continues immediately, at a much more worthy venue. We are in serious need of her talents.

[Lonestarblue]

41. Ann Telnaes is possibly the best editorial cartoonist. Her resignation is just one more reason to cancel WaPo.

The Post has very few decent opinion writers and journalists left. When they leave, Bezos will have succeeded in turning this once-great paper into a mouthpiece for Trump and his billionaires.

[GiqueCee]

42. As a fellow cartoonist...

... I greatly admire Ms. Telnaes work, and her stand against politically motivated censorship. I hope there's still a newspaper not owned and subverted by some oligarch's personal prejudices that will showcase her witty and insightful cartoons. I look forward to seeing more of her 'toons in a more supportive publication.

[JohnSJ]

43. I cancelled my subscription to the Washington Post after Bezo blocked the WP endorsement of VP Harris. At the very

least this is the beginning of a new McCarthy era, and at the very worst it is the end of our Democracy.

Either way it spells disaster for the country.

[yellow dahlia]

53. At least some are still sounding the alarm.

[Passages]

45. Thank goodness for professionals like Ann.

[Kid Berwyn]

46. Truth is what keeps a Democracy.

Lies are what tyrants, especially the orange lard ass ones controlled by V Putin, need to hold power.

[CaptainTruth]

47. I guess Mickey Mouse is dead? Killed by DeSantis?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

50. The Borowitz Report - Democracy Dies in Bezos

I agree with Andy Borowitz. Bezos and the Washington Post have sold out on defending democracy
https://bsky.app/profile/sharyn420.bsky.social/post/3lewl5tndok2a

Link to tweet

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/democracy-dies-in-bezos

Ann Telnaes, Pulitzer-winning cartoonist for the Washington Post since 2008, quit the paper this week after her editor killed her cartoon depicting WaPo owner Jeff Bezos and other craven billionaires debasing themselves before Donald J. Trump.

This act of censorship, of course, isn’t an outlier: anticipatory obedience to fascism has risen ominously in recent months. It began with WaPo and the Los Angeles Times spiking endorsements of Kamala Harris, only to be outdone by Disney, who gifted Trump $15 million instead of fighting his flimsy defamation claim in court. Oh, and let’s not forget Joe and Mika’s humiliating field trip to Mar-a-Lago.

I don’t know Ms. Telnaes but I admire her work, integrity, and courage. I’m publishing the rough draft of her cartoon above in the hopes that you’ll share it. If enough people do, it will reach a larger audience than if her WaPo editor had had the cojones to run it. Actually, given how many subscribers have fled the paper in recent months, reaching a larger audience than the Washington Post isn’t a daunting task.

Love,
Andy

[Uncle Joe]

51. One can't be owned and free at the same time

The fewer the people who own more stuff, the more likely the rest become part of what's owned.

Thanks for the thread Dennis Donovan

[Blue Owl]

52. I hope the WP goes bankrupt in 2025 never to be seen or heard from again

And take the orange criminal piece of shit you normalized with you...

[mountain grammy]

54. She's always had integrity. Her work is brilliant.

I had the Post on auto renew until the Alito flag story. Couldn't believe they sat on that. removed auto remove. Subscription expired. Plenty of other news sources. Hoping to keep the Atlantic.

[Kablooie]

55. The Streisand effect in full display.

Because they wanted to bury it, it is now the most viewed political cartoon in the world.
And they also lost their star cartoonist.