A Billionaire v. a Cartoonist. I’m Betting On the Cartoonist

Jim Hightower's Lowdown

Photo: Ann Tenlnaes

The sorry state of corporate journalism sagged to an even lower low this month when the Washington Post banned publication of a piece by its own Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, .

Why cancel her drawing? Because it lampooned Jeff Bezos, the multibillionaire boss of Amazon – who also happens to own The Post. The cartoon depicts Bezos and other media titans (even Mickey Mouse!) groveling at the feet of Donald Trump and offering sacks of cash. She was mocking Bezos and the others for recently sucking up to The Don by giving a million dollars each in celebration of his election.

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Top Post executives not only abandoned the paper’s journalistic integrity by censoring its prized cartoonist, but they then tried to cover-up their suppression by calling it a technicality. “We had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon,” weaseled a top manager, claiming he cut Telnaes’s drawing merely to avoid “repetition.”

But hello, read any paper, watch Fox News, listen to talk radio – and you’ll see that mass media relies on repetition. Moreover, cartoonists don’t merely repeat a story, they add journalistic impact by literally drawing a picture of it!

Ann Telnaes resigned on principle over this affront. Imagine Billionaire Bezos acting on any principle (besides advancing his financial principal). Yet, solely because he’s rich, he can compel a paper once renown for political courage to conform to the current plutocratic order. That’s how journalism dies. Democracy, too.

This is Jim Hightower saying… Yet, genuine journalism and democracy itself remain resilient, specifically because scrappy champions like Ann Telnaes – armed with integrity and a sharp pen – don’t quit. She’s still cartooning. Find her at anntelnaes.substack.com.

Open Windows

Ann Telnaes- Artist, visual storyteller, creator of "Open Windows"

By Ann Telnaes

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