Image Credit: Ann Telnaes

Washington, January 7 (RHC)-- The Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Ann Telnaes has quit The Washington Post after her editors rejected a cartoon depicting billionaires genuflecting to President-elect Trump.  Telnaes says it was the first time since she began her work at the newspaper in 2008 that she had a cartoon killed because of who or what she chose to aim her pen at. 

A draft of the cartoon depicts Big Tech owners kneeling at Trump’s feet, offering up sacks of cash.  Among them is Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos.  

Just two months ago, the Post featured Ann Telnaes in a video celebrating her work.   Ann Telnaes said: “I mean, just look at all the autocrats that hate editorial cartoonists.  I mean, not in this country, hopefully, but in — you know, a lot of my colleagues overseas are thrown in jail for doing cartoons about powerful people. … A lot of people don’t realize that, you know, we’re journalists. We’re opinion journalists, but we are journalists.  And that is our job as editorial cartoonists: to bring up sometimes uncomfortable truths.”

On Friday, Telnaes published an online post titled “Why I’m quitting the Washington Post,” in which she writes: “I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say, 'Democracy dies in darkness.'”

This comes after Jeff Bezos prevented The Washington Post from endorsing Kamala Harris for president and as Amazon’s Prime Video service announced it has acquired exclusive licensing rights to a new behind-the-scenes documentary about incoming first lady Melania Trump. 

Amazon also plans to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund and said that it would stream the event on Prime Video as a separate in-kind donation worth another $1 million. 

[ SOURCE:  DEMOCRACY NOW ]