We Stand With Ann

Cartoonists Unite for Ann Telnaes and the First Amendment

This week has seen a remarkable linking of ink-stained arms in support of Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes, who resigned after a commentary was spiked by the Washington Post. Since then there is been a media firestorm over the resignation. The members of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists decided to take a group action and finish Ann’s sketch, in our own styles. You saw mine on Sunday. Here are some of my colleagues’, all bringing their A-game to the fight.

In order: Ann’s sketch, Barry Blitt, Marc Murphy, Wes Tyrell, Lalo Alcaraz, Matt Weurker, Rod Emerson, Ted Littleford, John Cuneo, André Carrilho, Daniel Boris, Ben Sargent, Emma Cook.

For context, Pete Tucker writing in FAIR:

“Following the rejection of her cartoon, Telnaes resigned, marking just the latest departure from the storied paper.

“The Post is shedding talent at an unprecedented rate,” observed media journalist Oliver Darcy (Status, 1/6/25), who earlier noted (1/2/25): “Eventually treating employees with little respect has consequences.”

The growing exodus comes in the wake of Bezos spiking the Post’s endorsement of Kamala Harris in late October—a move he took to curry favor with Trump (FAIR.org, 10/30/24).

Amid the ensuing backlash—in which 300,000 Post readers reportedly canceled their subscriptions—Bezos scapegoated Post reporters for his craven action, claiming their untrustworthiness had forced him to abandon the paper’s longstanding practice of issuing presidential endorsements. “The Hard Truth: Americans Don’t Trust the News Media,” was the headline accompanying Bezos’ self-serving op-ed (Washington Post, 10/28/24).

After Trump’s win, Bezos ratched up his ingratiation, saying Trump has “grown in the past eight years” and is now “calmer.” Bezos also told the New York Times’ Dealbook conference he’s “very optimistic” about Trump’s second term, and hopes to work with him (Washington Post, 12/4/24).

“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. “We do have too much regulation in this country.”

Bezos also trekked down to Mar-a-Lago, gifts in hand—just as Telnaes depicted. In addition to ponying up $1 million for Trump’s inauguration fund, Amazon is also broadcasting the inauguration live on Amazon Prime, an in-kind donation worth another $1 million (BBC, 1/4/25). Meanwhile, Amazon will release a new documentary on Melania Trump, who’s an executive producer of the film; Bezos' company reportedly paid $40 million for the rights (Puck, 1/7/25).

Bezos didn’t become the second-richest person alive by prioritizing civic responsibility. “With Jeff, it’s always only about business,” a former employee of Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, told the Post (10/30/24). “It’s business, period. That’s how he built Amazon. That’s how he runs all of his enterprises.”

Meanwhile at the Post, the paper today “started laying off roughly 4% of its work force” (New York Times, 1/7/25)”

Thank you for your support for this project, now in its fifth year. And for my fellow journalists, visual or otherwise.

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