The longtime Washington Post cartoonist was killed after leadership reportedly killed off a cartoon depicting billionaire newspaper owner and billionaire Jeff Bezos bending the knee to President-elect Trump. resigned.
“There was feedback from editors, productive conversations, and some disagreements about the comics I submitted for publication, but all the while the comics were ruined because of who I pointed my pen at and for what purpose. “I’ve never been,” Anne says. Telnaes wrote Friday in a Substack post titled “Why I’m Leaving The Washington Post.”
“Until now,” she added.
Ternas’ resignation comes as tech and business leaders have appeared to be building bridges with the president-elect in recent weeks as they headed to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida, home for talks. It took place inside — a transition from the president’s first term.
The cartoonist, who joined the Post in 2008, has worked with several tech leaders including Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong. She said her editors had removed her drawings of media giants and Trump. Mickey Mouse represents the Walt Disney Company and ABC News.
“The slain cartoon criticizes the billionaire tech and media chiefs who have done everything in their power to curry favor with President-elect Trump,” she wrote.
The Post’s editorial page editor, David Shipley, rejected the claim, saying the only “bias” in the decision not to publish the cartoon was “repetition.”
“I respect Ann Ternas and everything she has given the Post, but I have to agree with her version of events,” he said in a statement to The Hill. . “Not all editorial decisions reflect malicious forces.”
“My decision was dictated by the fact that I had just published a column on the same theme as the cartoon and was already planning to publish another column (this one a satire),” he added.
Amazon, which was founded by Bezos, announced in early December that it would donate $1 million to President Trump’s inauguration fund, as well as $1 million in in-kind donations. Bezos also personally congratulated the president-elect on his election victory, calling it an “extraordinary political comeback.”
“Everyone wants to be my friend!!!” Trump wrote in Truth Social on Thursday after having dinner with Bezos in Florida last month.
Hill has reached out to Trump’s transition team for comment.
Ternas’ cartoons are the latest in media backlash that has prompted backlash, including ABC News’ $15 million defamation settlement with Trump and the Los Angeles Times owner’s decision to rescind Vice President Harris’ endorsement of the president. We also focused on movement.
Bezos has also been widely criticized by readers and staff alike this fall for killing a Post article that supported President Trump’s opponents. The billionaire technology and media entrepreneur defended the move, saying the newspaper’s support of the president creates a “perception of bias.”
“Ending them is a principled decision and the right decision,” Bezos wrote in October. “I also want to be clear that there is no quid pro quo at work here. Neither the campaign nor the candidate were consulted or informed of this decision at any level or in any way. It was completely made in-house.”
Mr. Pack reported that Mr. Ternas joins a wave of journalists who have left Mr. Bezos’ newspapers in recent months.
“My job as an editorial cartoonist is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. For the first time, an editor prevented me from doing that important work,” Ternes wrote. “So I decided to resign from my post. I don’t think my decision will cause such a stir that I will be rejected because I’m just a cartoonist.”
“But I will not stop holding truth to power through caricature, because as the saying goes, ‘democracy dies in darkness,'” she added.