Pulitzer Winner quits after Jeff Bezos cartoon gets ‘killed’ at Washington Post: ‘Dangerous for free press’

The cartoon and Its message

The satire in question allegedly portrayed Bezos and other tech giants like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong. The cartoon was meant to criticise these media and tech executives for their attempts to “curry favour ”with the former president. “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,” Telnaes wrote in an online post on the Substack announcing her exit.

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“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 gamechanger … and dangerous for a free press,” she added.

Editorial response and controversy

Telnaes’ resignation comes just months after The Washington Post and Bezos faced backlash over the decision to prevent its editorial team from publishing a planned endorsement of Kamala Harris. Both WaPo and LA Times faced massive subscriber cancellations in response to their perceived “bias” toward Trump.

In response to the Cartoonist’s exit, the publication’s opinions editor David Shipley defended the paper’s decision, explaining that they had already published a similar column and another satire on the same topic. Speaking to NY Times they said, “Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force.” Shipley continued, “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column – this one a satire – for publication.”