These are not easy times for the press anywhere, but the resurgence of authoritarian movements has never boded well for individual freedoms, including freedoms of the press and freedom of expression. This time it happened within the American newspaper The Washington Postwhere one of its most prestigious cartoonists has left the newspaper after the censorship of one of her latest satirical creations.
In an article titled ‘Why I’m leaving the Washington Post’the American cartoonist of Swedish origin Ann Telnaes explained this Saturday her reasons for leaving the newspaper that has published her graphic works for the last 16 years without interruption.
Leaving no room for speculation, Telnaes begins his explanation with the following words: “I have received comments and had productive conversations—and some differences—about cartoons that I have sent for publication, but in all this time they have never killed one of my cartoons because of who or what I chose to direct my pen towards. Until now.”
The cartoon in question, of which the author herself has published a draft, shows a group of millionaire technology entrepreneurs offering bags of money to a giant figure placed on a podium that appears to represent the elected president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Among the businessmen represented are the founder and CEO of Facebook and Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, the entrepreneur dedicated to Artificial Intelligence Sam Altman, the editor of the newspaper Los Angeles Times Patrick Soon-Shiong, the Walt Disney Company or Jeff Bezos himself, owner of the newspaper The Washington Post. The author, Ann Telnaes, has confirmed that the characters in the drawing correspond to these five personalities and companies.
According to Telnaes, which over the last decades has been awarded numerous awards – from the Pulitzer to the most recent Herblock Prize in 2023 – the cartoon intended to make a satirical criticism of the billionaire chief executives of technology companies and media outlets that “have been doing everything they can” to curry favor with President-elect Trump.
As the author defends, who expressly cites an article from December Washington Postin recent weeks numerous journalistic pieces have been written in the United States about how these men “with lucrative government contracts” and “interest in eliminating regulations” have been passing through Mar-a-lago to meet with Donald trump.
This mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, created as the summer home of the US presidents, was acquired by the magnate in the mid-80s and has been converted into his de facto headquarters. Businessman Elon Musk has even rented a room there to be closer to the president-elect and participate with him in meetings with different international leaders.
The cartoonist assures that, although it is not unusual for editors to object to some of the metaphors used in a cartoon “in case the message is not clear or does not correctly represent the cartoonist’s message”, that has not been the case on this occasion. Ann Telnaes defends that this is a change in the rules of the game, and that it is “dangerous” for a free press.
“As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable,” recalls Telnaes, who emphasizes that “for the first time” his editor prevented him from doing this critical work. Given this, Telnaes has made the decision to leave the newspaper and, although she believes that her decision will not generate a special commotion because “she is only” “a cartoonist,” she affirms that she will not stop confronting power with the truth since, as they say, , “democracy dies in darkness.”
One more crisis for the US “free press”
The new controversy surrounding the newspaper of Amazon owner, Jeff Bezos, occurs a few weeks after, for the first time and coinciding with one of the most decisive elections in recent times, the newspaper did not express its editorial support for a candidate presidential.
According to public radio station NPR, The newspaper has been rocked by a wave of subscriber cancellations and a series of columnist resignations, as it grapples with the fallout from Bezos’ decision to veto support for Vice President Harris. This radio station estimated that around 8% of the 2.5 million subscribers asked to unsubscribe for this reason.
A similar controversy hit another American newspaper in those days: Los Angeles Times. There, the head of the Editorial Board, Mariel Garza, resigned from her position in protest because the newspaper’s owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, blocked the newspaper’s support for Harris. Billionaire Soon-Shiong, who wanted to present his decision as an attempt at neutrality, was another of the figures represented in his cartoon by Ann Telnaes.
Source: www.eldiario.es
