Democracy can't function without a free press
January 3, 2025 6:26 PM Subscribe
Ann Telnaes has quit the Washington Post. "As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that critical job. So I have decided to leave the Post. I doubt my decision will cause much of a stir and that it will be dismissed because I’m just a cartoonist."
"I’ve worked for the Washington Post since 2008 as an editorial cartoonist. 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.
The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump.
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 game changer…and dangerous for a free press."
Other reporters are also leaving.
From a Eugene Robinson WaPo live chat in mid-December 2024:
"Jeff Bezos totally has a right to weigh in on the editorial stance of the paper -- the positions taken by our unsigned editorials. Neither he nor anyone else has ever tried to tell me or any of the other op-ed columnists what to say or not to say. And Bezos has never, to my knowledge, attempted to interfere with our news coverage -- including our coverage of him and his businesses. If that changes, I promise I will let you know."
I'm wondering what he's thinking right now, or if he will say anything, because it looks like that line's been crossed now.
"I’ve worked for the Washington Post since 2008 as an editorial cartoonist. 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.
The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump.
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 game changer…and dangerous for a free press."
Other reporters are also leaving.
From a Eugene Robinson WaPo live chat in mid-December 2024:
"Jeff Bezos totally has a right to weigh in on the editorial stance of the paper -- the positions taken by our unsigned editorials. Neither he nor anyone else has ever tried to tell me or any of the other op-ed columnists what to say or not to say. And Bezos has never, to my knowledge, attempted to interfere with our news coverage -- including our coverage of him and his businesses. If that changes, I promise I will let you know."
I'm wondering what he's thinking right now, or if he will say anything, because it looks like that line's been crossed now.
Apple CEO Tim Cook will personally donate $1 million to President-elect Trump's inaugural committee, sources with knowledge of the donation tell Axios. ... Cook, a proud Alabama native, believes the inauguration is a great American tradition, and is donating to the inauguration in the spirit of unity, the sources said.
posted by Lemkin at 6:43 PM on January 3 [10 favorites]
posted by Lemkin at 6:43 PM on January 3 [10 favorites]
As a good corporate citizen and a senior manager I am very curious about how this went down. So much corporate authoritarianism is proactive, several levels below the top: it's middle managers "reading the room" and deciding "some things aren't done."
A lot of my life as a director has involved processing directives from a worried boss suggesting I "have a word" or "look into" a matter with a subordinate, often without any actual guidance on what to actually do and vague references to c-suite "heartburn." Which is sort of its own point: The assiduous refusal to demand a sanction, but rather to "use your judgment" has a grand chilling effect on middle managers.
Not to say Bezos had nothing to do with it, etc. Just that corporate management is all about a deeply internalized self-surveillance and self-policing. I wonder where the decision came from.
posted by A forgotten .plan file at 7:01 PM on January 3 [59 favorites]
A lot of my life as a director has involved processing directives from a worried boss suggesting I "have a word" or "look into" a matter with a subordinate, often without any actual guidance on what to actually do and vague references to c-suite "heartburn." Which is sort of its own point: The assiduous refusal to demand a sanction, but rather to "use your judgment" has a grand chilling effect on middle managers.
Not to say Bezos had nothing to do with it, etc. Just that corporate management is all about a deeply internalized self-surveillance and self-policing. I wonder where the decision came from.
posted by A forgotten .plan file at 7:01 PM on January 3 [59 favorites]
One editorial comment on the cartoon: turn the Trump figure around, and have the billionaires kissing his ass. The money is meaningless, it's the subservience than matters.
posted by Marky at 7:02 PM on January 3 [17 favorites]
posted by Marky at 7:02 PM on January 3 [17 favorites]
In 1978, Doonesbury published a coupon (one of several) offering readers a postcard to clip and send to politicians. Did it work? Maybe, somewhat, but it was published. The tobacco one was epic, and did something.
Included in that list is all the cartoons that were altered, censored, deleted...considering the content then versus now, well, shit.
Marky, agreed.
posted by winesong at 7:08 PM on January 3 [5 favorites]
Included in that list is all the cartoons that were altered, censored, deleted...considering the content then versus now, well, shit.
Marky, agreed.
posted by winesong at 7:08 PM on January 3 [5 favorites]
hold powerful people and institutions accountable
Yep. That's exactly what that one-panel comic was doing. /s
posted by davidmsc at 7:25 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
Yep. That's exactly what that one-panel comic was doing. /s
posted by davidmsc at 7:25 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I'm wondering what he's thinking right now, or if he will say anything, because it looks like that line's been crossed now.
"Bezos didn't tell me to do it- I did it on my own before he could get mad about it. So it's different."
posted by BungaDunga at 7:35 PM on January 3 [15 favorites]
"Bezos didn't tell me to do it- I did it on my own before he could get mad about it. So it's different."
posted by BungaDunga at 7:35 PM on January 3 [15 favorites]
Per Atrios this morning -- I didn't know then what he was referring to, but likely this.
There are regular reports of journalists fleeing the Washington Post if they can, which is hilarious because so many journalists (not necessarily the same ones) got Big Mad when people started canceling their subscriptions, arguing that even though Bezos was meddling in the opinion side he of course WOULD NOT meddle in the news side.
My guys he hired one of the worst Brits to run the place. Why do you think he did that? Why do you love yelling at your customer base, who often know more than you do, so much?
posted by Pedantzilla at 7:41 PM on January 3 [14 favorites]
There are regular reports of journalists fleeing the Washington Post if they can, which is hilarious because so many journalists (not necessarily the same ones) got Big Mad when people started canceling their subscriptions, arguing that even though Bezos was meddling in the opinion side he of course WOULD NOT meddle in the news side.
My guys he hired one of the worst Brits to run the place. Why do you think he did that? Why do you love yelling at your customer base, who often know more than you do, so much?
posted by Pedantzilla at 7:41 PM on January 3 [14 favorites]
As a good corporate citizen and a senior manager I am very curious about how this went down. So much corporate authoritarianism is proactive, several levels below the top: it's middle managers "reading the room" and deciding "some things aren't done."
A lot of my life as a director has involved processing directives from a worried boss suggesting I "have a word" or "look into" a matter with a subordinate, often without any actual guidance on what to actually do and vague references to c-suite "heartburn." Which is sort of its own point: The assiduous refusal to demand a sanction, but rather to "use your judgment" has a grand chilling effect on middle managers.
Not to say Bezos had nothing to do with it, etc. Just that corporate management is all about a deeply internalized self-surveillance and self-policing. I wonder where the decision came from.
I wonder if this is why autism has been a barrier for me advancing in the corporate world. Things are communicated by implication rather than literally because people fear accountability. So when I know that the real meaning is being hidden by obfuscation, I normally end up saying something to the neurotypical leader person like this: "Well, what you are literally saying is X, but in context, it's also possible that you mean Y. Do you mean X or Y?" And there are a lot of people who don't like that.
posted by jonp72 at 8:13 PM on January 3 [40 favorites]
A lot of my life as a director has involved processing directives from a worried boss suggesting I "have a word" or "look into" a matter with a subordinate, often without any actual guidance on what to actually do and vague references to c-suite "heartburn." Which is sort of its own point: The assiduous refusal to demand a sanction, but rather to "use your judgment" has a grand chilling effect on middle managers.
Not to say Bezos had nothing to do with it, etc. Just that corporate management is all about a deeply internalized self-surveillance and self-policing. I wonder where the decision came from.
I wonder if this is why autism has been a barrier for me advancing in the corporate world. Things are communicated by implication rather than literally because people fear accountability. So when I know that the real meaning is being hidden by obfuscation, I normally end up saying something to the neurotypical leader person like this: "Well, what you are literally saying is X, but in context, it's also possible that you mean Y. Do you mean X or Y?" And there are a lot of people who don't like that.
posted by jonp72 at 8:13 PM on January 3 [40 favorites]
Yep. That's exactly what that one-panel comic was doing. /s
dude, do better
posted by ginger.beef at 8:19 PM on January 3 [43 favorites]
dude, do better
posted by ginger.beef at 8:19 PM on January 3 [43 favorites]
hold powerful people and institutions accountableNot sure what you meant with your post, but it seems like the combination of the cartoon and the resignation did that to the limits of her ability.
Yep. That's exactly what that one-panel comic was doing. /s
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 8:54 PM on January 3 [31 favorites]
turn the Trump figure around, and have the billionaires kissing his ass
I think the more accurate imagery would be even less family-friendly... and they wouldn't be kissing.
posted by stormyteal at 9:24 PM on January 3 [6 favorites]
I think the more accurate imagery would be even less family-friendly... and they wouldn't be kissing.
posted by stormyteal at 9:24 PM on January 3 [6 favorites]
Probably unrelated but Dan Gillmor today:
I hope someone quickly leaks the private Facebook group message (which I believe to be real but can't confirm) said to have been posted by a Washington Post editor who resigned to "disobey in advance".posted by Nelson at 9:47 PM on January 3 [6 favorites]
It's a scorcher and -- assuming it's real -- needs to be public.
It's been pretty obvious for some time now that we no longer have a free press.
Oh wait, let me lighten the mood with a joke: The Liberal Media.
HAHA! That never fails to crack me up.
Back to what I was saying: Some people would say it's been obvious since the 2016 election. You remember, the first time the media ignored the problems of Der Furor (no, that's spelled correctly) and focused on That Woman's emails and her general unelectability. I personally think we can go back to the Bush election that was handed to him by the supreme court and the conspicuous silence of the media.
It's shocking, I know, when all of the media is telling you that fascists aren't so bad, and Hey! What about that economy! (meanwhile those of us making less than $75k a year are living rough)
Really, I just want to say, this is what Woke feels like. Welcome, the coffee's bitter but no rest for the wicked and all that.
posted by evilDoug at 9:50 PM on January 3 [20 favorites]
Oh wait, let me lighten the mood with a joke: The Liberal Media.
HAHA! That never fails to crack me up.
Back to what I was saying: Some people would say it's been obvious since the 2016 election. You remember, the first time the media ignored the problems of Der Furor (no, that's spelled correctly) and focused on That Woman's emails and her general unelectability. I personally think we can go back to the Bush election that was handed to him by the supreme court and the conspicuous silence of the media.
It's shocking, I know, when all of the media is telling you that fascists aren't so bad, and Hey! What about that economy! (meanwhile those of us making less than $75k a year are living rough)
Really, I just want to say, this is what Woke feels like. Welcome, the coffee's bitter but no rest for the wicked and all that.
posted by evilDoug at 9:50 PM on January 3 [20 favorites]
At this point my main concern is that tech is *afraid* of what's coming.
posted by mathjus at 11:10 PM on January 3 [8 favorites]
posted by mathjus at 11:10 PM on January 3 [8 favorites]
At this point my main concern is that tech is *afraid* of what's coming.
They're reverting to being school children dealing with a bully, only as adults. They're terrified because they've never had to deal with anything that doesn't kowtow to them as a default. TFG is a play pretend mob boss, but they're just play pretend regular bosses. The hierarchy establishes itself because while no one involved has an actual spine, only one of them is even bothering to pretend.
This is your corporate leadership, ladies and gentlemen. This is your cream of the crop, captains of industry C-suite. I'm not gonna say anything Luigi Adjacent... I'm just going to say that people need to make sure they aren't overestimating their opponents.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 11:58 PM on January 3 [11 favorites]
They're reverting to being school children dealing with a bully, only as adults. They're terrified because they've never had to deal with anything that doesn't kowtow to them as a default. TFG is a play pretend mob boss, but they're just play pretend regular bosses. The hierarchy establishes itself because while no one involved has an actual spine, only one of them is even bothering to pretend.
This is your corporate leadership, ladies and gentlemen. This is your cream of the crop, captains of industry C-suite. I'm not gonna say anything Luigi Adjacent... I'm just going to say that people need to make sure they aren't overestimating their opponents.
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 11:58 PM on January 3 [11 favorites]
Can someone please identify the figures not on the pedestal in the original cartoon ?
The mouse, I get
The bald figure is Bezos.
Who else ?
posted by Faintdreams at 3:00 AM on January 4 [2 favorites]
The mouse, I get
The bald figure is Bezos.
Who else ?
posted by Faintdreams at 3:00 AM on January 4 [2 favorites]
The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:10 AM on January 4 [2 favorites]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:10 AM on January 4 [2 favorites]
Der Furor (no, that's spelled correctly)
Duh Furor, surely.
posted by flabdablet at 3:41 AM on January 4 [6 favorites]
Duh Furor, surely.
posted by flabdablet at 3:41 AM on January 4 [6 favorites]
I posted no cartoons about the loss of long-form investigations because I couldn't fit the nuance in three panels;
I posted no cartoons about the loss of process stories from embedded journalists in our political process because normality and transparency have no visual hook;
I posted no cartoons about the loss of association with long-standing advertisers when we got auctioned digital advertising because I didn't have a user profile that showed it to me;
I posted no cartoons about the change in funding that came from digital auctioned advertising because I couldn't and still can't see which hand to bite;
They're scared I've bitten a poweful hand, so I posted no cartoons.
posted by k3ninho at 4:30 AM on January 4 [4 favorites]
I posted no cartoons about the loss of process stories from embedded journalists in our political process because normality and transparency have no visual hook;
I posted no cartoons about the loss of association with long-standing advertisers when we got auctioned digital advertising because I didn't have a user profile that showed it to me;
I posted no cartoons about the change in funding that came from digital auctioned advertising because I couldn't and still can't see which hand to bite;
They're scared I've bitten a poweful hand, so I posted no cartoons.
posted by k3ninho at 4:30 AM on January 4 [4 favorites]
Can someone please identify the figures not on the pedestal in the original cartoon ?
It's in the article:
It's in the article:
The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.posted by AlSweigart at 6:07 AM on January 4 [3 favorites]
The Right Wing Propaganda Machine has been successful beyond even its expectations.
posted by tommasz at 6:31 AM on January 4 [9 favorites]
posted by tommasz at 6:31 AM on January 4 [9 favorites]
"Democracy dies in darkness" was obviously intended as a warning; such a shame that the owners of the paper have taken it for a mission statement.
posted by flabdablet at 6:40 AM on January 4 [8 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 6:40 AM on January 4 [8 favorites]
The WaPo editor says the cartoon was killed because of "repetition". Kara Swisher just pointed to similar repetition re:Biden's too old in WaPo. (bluesky link)
posted by bluesky43 at 6:41 AM on January 4 [5 favorites]
posted by bluesky43 at 6:41 AM on January 4 [5 favorites]
To be read in tandem:
Harry Litman, 5 Dec 2024 Why I Just Resigned From The LA Times
Harry Litman, 5 Dec 2024 Why I Just Resigned From The LA Times
Before joining the Times, I was a contributing commentator for the Post. We used to say there, tongue-in-cheek, that our billionaire was better than their billionaire, meaning Bezos was more aware of his public responsibility and more hands-off in his oversight. As it turns out, both billionaires flinched when the chips were down, choosing to appease, not oppose, a criminal President with patent authoritarian ambitions.posted by Pallas Athena at 6:50 AM on January 4 [17 favorites]
NYT article on this, gift link.
“Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force,” Mr. Shipley said in the statement. “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. The only bias was against repetition.”posted by jenfullmoon at 9:06 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]
Mr. Shipley added that he had spoken with Ms. Telnaes by phone on Friday and had asked her to reconsider resigning. During the call, Mr. Shipley said he wanted to speak with Ms. Telnaes on Monday, after they had taken the weekend to think things over. He later encouraged her to hold off on quitting to see if they could work out the situation in accordance with her principles.
Gene Weingarten points to a foreshadowing comic.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:20 AM on January 4 [6 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:20 AM on January 4 [6 favorites]
Heaven forfend we should discuss a current event too frequently. People might decide the event is important.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:32 AM on January 4 [9 favorites]
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:32 AM on January 4 [9 favorites]
When I am about to tell my children something I have told them before, I remind them that, when I think something is important, I tend to repeat myself about it.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:33 AM on January 4 [6 favorites]
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:33 AM on January 4 [6 favorites]
the idea that the NYT only publishes cartoons on topics about which they haven't also recently published a column is a real "do you think we're stupid" moment
posted by BungaDunga at 11:41 AM on January 4 [7 favorites]
posted by BungaDunga at 11:41 AM on January 4 [7 favorites]
Der Furor (no, that's spelled correctly)
Duh Furor, surely.
Derp Furor.
posted by mrgoat at 11:52 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]
Duh Furor, surely.
Derp Furor.
posted by mrgoat at 11:52 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]
"Democracy dies in darkness" was obviously intended as a warning; such a shame that the owners of the paper have taken it for a mission statement.
Kinda like Google's "Don't be evil" motto -- a parody of itself in retrospect
posted by treepour at 12:53 PM on January 4 [4 favorites]
Kinda like Google's "Don't be evil" motto -- a parody of itself in retrospect
posted by treepour at 12:53 PM on January 4 [4 favorites]
In the old days, they'd just fire you. Now, they make your job so unbearable that they force you to leave. Gotta love that tech bro culture!
posted by lock robster at 1:31 PM on January 4 [1 favorite]
posted by lock robster at 1:31 PM on January 4 [1 favorite]
Gotta love that tech bro culture!
Unemployment insurance isn't going to pay itself.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 5:10 PM on January 4 [1 favorite]
Unemployment insurance isn't going to pay itself.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 5:10 PM on January 4 [1 favorite]
It would have cost Bezos nothing if it had run. He certainly looks worse for killing it, or for having had someone kill it on his behalf, putting his fragile ego above his paper. Zero percent of his intuition is that of a newsman.
posted by mark k at 8:53 PM on January 4 [3 favorites]
posted by mark k at 8:53 PM on January 4 [3 favorites]
It's worse because very probably he didn't kill it or ask someone to kill it, but his previous actions have put The Fear into the editorial decisionmakers at the Post so they did it for him.
A problem entirely of his own making, but a different one than if he's personally been dis/approving editorial cartoons.
posted by BungaDunga at 6:34 AM on January 5 [8 favorites]
A problem entirely of his own making, but a different one than if he's personally been dis/approving editorial cartoons.
posted by BungaDunga at 6:34 AM on January 5 [8 favorites]
So, been waiting to see what happens when the political chats come back. First up, Eric Temple, starting at 12 EST (so, 25 min ago):
8:55 a.m. Do you care to discuss the Telnaes incident?
Erik Wemple: Yes.
8:55 a.m. Please discuss her resignation from the Washington Post.
Erik Wemple: Thanks for the invitation.
No replies, no further questions, NOTHING.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:27 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
8:55 a.m. Do you care to discuss the Telnaes incident?
Erik Wemple: Yes.
8:55 a.m. Please discuss her resignation from the Washington Post.
Erik Wemple: Thanks for the invitation.
No replies, no further questions, NOTHING.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:27 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
For those who needed the cartoon translated.
Erik Wemple is back on the chat, saying, "We'll see, won't we? Actually: I have no reason to believe that my ability to opine on internal matters at The Post has been curtailed or adjusted in any way."
Continuing: "Without context, Shipley's explanation sounds as if it comes from left field. But actually: Reducing the duplication of opinions in column after column, video after video, cartoon after cartoon *has* been a steady emphasis of Shipley's since he took over Post Opinions in September 2022. The section that he inherited was more of a freewheeling place where columnists often wrote off the news, with the frequent result being a number of pieces pegged to a single event and often expressing similar sentiments. He set out to fashion a more curated assortment of opinions with greater topical breadth. Also: Shipley told me last night that he made the decision on the Telnaes cartoon without consulting Bezos or Post Publisher Will Lewis. All that said, I find the explanation to kill the cartoon unconvincing and the decision demoralizing."
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:51 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
Erik Wemple is back on the chat, saying, "We'll see, won't we? Actually: I have no reason to believe that my ability to opine on internal matters at The Post has been curtailed or adjusted in any way."
Continuing: "Without context, Shipley's explanation sounds as if it comes from left field. But actually: Reducing the duplication of opinions in column after column, video after video, cartoon after cartoon *has* been a steady emphasis of Shipley's since he took over Post Opinions in September 2022. The section that he inherited was more of a freewheeling place where columnists often wrote off the news, with the frequent result being a number of pieces pegged to a single event and often expressing similar sentiments. He set out to fashion a more curated assortment of opinions with greater topical breadth. Also: Shipley told me last night that he made the decision on the Telnaes cartoon without consulting Bezos or Post Publisher Will Lewis. All that said, I find the explanation to kill the cartoon unconvincing and the decision demoralizing."
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:51 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
Also: Shipley told me last night that he made the decision on the Telnaes cartoon without consulting Bezos or Post Publisher Will Lewis.Jesus Christ. Why would I want to read any opinions from anyone this naive? Our entire conception of "management" and "professionalism" hinges on the idea that a manager's boss does not need to tell the manager what to do because the manager is a reliable Correct Answer machine to the standards of the boss. The corporate shorthand for this is "alignment." The higher you go in management, the more disqualifying being "out of alignment" is. It's why directors and VPs can disappear within a day or two vs. much more protracted PIP processes, etc. for everyone else. It's why you can expect business unit successions to result in a purge: The incoming person will take a little time to figure out who's aligned and who's not and then fire up the attrition factory.
"What happened to Bob?"
"He and Jack just couldn't get to alignment."
"Oh. Okay."
It's like Lefty in Donnie Brasco leaving his rings and wallet in the dish by the door before he heads out to get capped. It's the rules.
The professional managerial class exists to present a consistent, compliant layer between capital and workers, and given the workers are not paying manager salaries, it's not hard to figure out who they're going to align with.
posted by A forgotten .plan file at 10:28 AM on January 6 [4 favorites]
Continued:
In an interview with me, Telnaes makes clear that her work gets edited — for instance, she notes that the late Fred Hiatt killed "a couple of ideas" regarding the August 2017 Charlottesville rally. "I was using Nazi imagery," Telnaes recalled, noting that Hiatt thought the material was too sensitive. "I just did something different," she said, noting that it wasn't that Hiatt wanted to keep her from commenting on the incident. In this case, she said, "I was just told no."
On the general topic of Telnaes cartoon, The Post had already published a piece by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Eugene Robinson that started with these words, "Titans of industry and commerce, beware. When you bend the knee to the Mad King, when you shower him with money and bathe him in flattery, he will receive your gifts with apparent gratitude. But he will want more. He will always want more." And in his statement, Shipley referred to a satirical piece on the same topic that was in the works at the time of the decision. In my view, those pieces shouldn't figure into whether Telnaes, who works with a different set of storytelling tools, should be prevented from doing her thing on Bezos & Co. Now: Von Drehle told me that editors at Opinions have taken to adding more scrutiny to cartoons ever since the section deleted an November 2023 cartoon that was slammed as racist. As for Telnaes' billionaire cartoon, Von Drehle said, "I didn’t think it was a very good cartoon. It seemed pretty ham-handed to me." The job of editors in the section, he said, should be to declare that "when we publish something, it’s saying, 'We think this is really good,' as opposed to, 'This is something that came in.'" Amid the commentary on this incident, Von Drehle said he's had trouble spotting endorsements of the cartoon itself. "'Wow, that is a great editorial cartoon!' 'Holy smokes, how did she come up with that?' 'Makes me think of things in a whole new way!' Nobody's saying that," Von Drehle said.
I have no evidence of interference by owner Jeff Bezos or by Publisher Will Lewis. Shipley said it was his decision all along, without any consultation above his level. And Von Drehle said, "Any suggestion that this was reflecting some order from on high is 1,000 percent wrong."
So that's the BS he's been told by the higher-ups, apparently. Wemple sounds skeptical.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:51 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
In an interview with me, Telnaes makes clear that her work gets edited — for instance, she notes that the late Fred Hiatt killed "a couple of ideas" regarding the August 2017 Charlottesville rally. "I was using Nazi imagery," Telnaes recalled, noting that Hiatt thought the material was too sensitive. "I just did something different," she said, noting that it wasn't that Hiatt wanted to keep her from commenting on the incident. In this case, she said, "I was just told no."
On the general topic of Telnaes cartoon, The Post had already published a piece by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Eugene Robinson that started with these words, "Titans of industry and commerce, beware. When you bend the knee to the Mad King, when you shower him with money and bathe him in flattery, he will receive your gifts with apparent gratitude. But he will want more. He will always want more." And in his statement, Shipley referred to a satirical piece on the same topic that was in the works at the time of the decision. In my view, those pieces shouldn't figure into whether Telnaes, who works with a different set of storytelling tools, should be prevented from doing her thing on Bezos & Co. Now: Von Drehle told me that editors at Opinions have taken to adding more scrutiny to cartoons ever since the section deleted an November 2023 cartoon that was slammed as racist. As for Telnaes' billionaire cartoon, Von Drehle said, "I didn’t think it was a very good cartoon. It seemed pretty ham-handed to me." The job of editors in the section, he said, should be to declare that "when we publish something, it’s saying, 'We think this is really good,' as opposed to, 'This is something that came in.'" Amid the commentary on this incident, Von Drehle said he's had trouble spotting endorsements of the cartoon itself. "'Wow, that is a great editorial cartoon!' 'Holy smokes, how did she come up with that?' 'Makes me think of things in a whole new way!' Nobody's saying that," Von Drehle said.
I have no evidence of interference by owner Jeff Bezos or by Publisher Will Lewis. Shipley said it was his decision all along, without any consultation above his level. And Von Drehle said, "Any suggestion that this was reflecting some order from on high is 1,000 percent wrong."
So that's the BS he's been told by the higher-ups, apparently. Wemple sounds skeptical.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:51 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]
Finishing the chat recap:
I have no evidence of interference by owner Jeff Bezos or by Publisher Will Lewis. Shipley said it was his decision all along, without any consultation above his level. And Von Drehle said, "Any suggestion that this was reflecting some order from on high is 1,000 percent wrong."
But there has been nothing from the newsrooms media desk about this matter — just an AP story that we posted to our website. I asked executive editor Matt Murray about the newspaper's evolving approach to its own workplace, and this is the response I got: "I did set a policy that broadly we should not cover ourselves. I have always felt that there are too many inherent conflicts of interest for organizations in that. Occasionally it is merited of course, but it is conflict-ridden. Most news orgs have the same or similar policies of course. I set this weeks ago, so there is nothing about it specifically tied to the cartoon." I couldn't possibly dissent more strongly from that policy.
I am on the Opinions side, and for 13 years, I have been given the freedom to report critically on matters on both the News and Opinions shops.
(Poster saying what I'm thinking)
However, wouldn't it have been better to say, "We've got two pieces already saying approximately what this says. Can you come back and wow me with a new angle?' instead of just "No"?
Erik: Yes, I think that would indeed have been better.
Many readers see flames; I am reporting on the situation and trying to synthesize a fair bit of information here and many perspectives. To be clear: I oppose the decision to kill the Telnaes cartoon and believe it was misguided, period.
Why he's not quitting:
No. 1: I believe in The Post. No. 2: To the extent that I disagree with decisions that come down from leadership, I feel I'm in a better position to have my voice heard internally than as just some guy riffing on X as a former WaPo media critic. No. 3: I've just spent nearly 2.5 hours opining on a very hot-button internal issue on The Post's website.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:50 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]
I have no evidence of interference by owner Jeff Bezos or by Publisher Will Lewis. Shipley said it was his decision all along, without any consultation above his level. And Von Drehle said, "Any suggestion that this was reflecting some order from on high is 1,000 percent wrong."
But there has been nothing from the newsrooms media desk about this matter — just an AP story that we posted to our website. I asked executive editor Matt Murray about the newspaper's evolving approach to its own workplace, and this is the response I got: "I did set a policy that broadly we should not cover ourselves. I have always felt that there are too many inherent conflicts of interest for organizations in that. Occasionally it is merited of course, but it is conflict-ridden. Most news orgs have the same or similar policies of course. I set this weeks ago, so there is nothing about it specifically tied to the cartoon." I couldn't possibly dissent more strongly from that policy.
I am on the Opinions side, and for 13 years, I have been given the freedom to report critically on matters on both the News and Opinions shops.
(Poster saying what I'm thinking)
However, wouldn't it have been better to say, "We've got two pieces already saying approximately what this says. Can you come back and wow me with a new angle?' instead of just "No"?
Erik: Yes, I think that would indeed have been better.
Many readers see flames; I am reporting on the situation and trying to synthesize a fair bit of information here and many perspectives. To be clear: I oppose the decision to kill the Telnaes cartoon and believe it was misguided, period.
Why he's not quitting:
No. 1: I believe in The Post. No. 2: To the extent that I disagree with decisions that come down from leadership, I feel I'm in a better position to have my voice heard internally than as just some guy riffing on X as a former WaPo media critic. No. 3: I've just spent nearly 2.5 hours opining on a very hot-button internal issue on The Post's website.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:50 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]
Gene Weingarten and Ann Telnaes and interview with her.
I love how other cartoonists are doing the same thing. REPETITION!
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:55 PM on January 6 [2 favorites]
I love how other cartoonists are doing the same thing. REPETITION!
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:55 PM on January 6 [2 favorites]
I have no evidence of interference by owner Jeff Bezos or by Publisher Will Lewis. Shipley said it was his decision all along, without any consultation above his level. And Von Drehle said, "Any suggestion that this was reflecting some order from on high is 1,000 percent wrong."
You can tell someone isn't arguing in good faith when they deploy straw man arguments like "Any suggestion that this was reflecting some order from on high is 1,000 percent wrong."
The criticism isn't that Bezos ordered the cartoon pulled, it's that the WaPo pulled the cartoon at all. The criticism has been that doing so was symptomatic of obeying in advance, or "working toward the Fuhrer," if you will.
posted by Gelatin at 5:54 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]
You can tell someone isn't arguing in good faith when they deploy straw man arguments like "Any suggestion that this was reflecting some order from on high is 1,000 percent wrong."
The criticism isn't that Bezos ordered the cartoon pulled, it's that the WaPo pulled the cartoon at all. The criticism has been that doing so was symptomatic of obeying in advance, or "working toward the Fuhrer," if you will.
posted by Gelatin at 5:54 AM on January 7 [2 favorites]
Loosely paraphrasing an interview I vaguely remember seeing: the interviewer bridles at Chomsky's suggestion that he's actually working for a propaganda machine and says indignantly that he takes pride in his professionalism and that these are opinions he genuinely has, not opinions he's being told to have or paid to express, to which Chomsky points out that he wouldn't even have been offered the job he has unless he'd had opinions just like those.
posted by flabdablet at 7:51 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]
posted by flabdablet at 7:51 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]
Eugene Robinson chat:
I won't dodge the issue, but I also don't plan to make this whole chat about it; my colleague Erik Wemple did just that in his chat yesterday. Opinions Editor David Shipley has said the cartoon was rejected because it was duplicative. That is true, thematically; I believe it was submitted, in fact, the same day the Post published my column about the same thing. That said, columns and cartoon are different media. Disagreements between those of us who opine and our editors are not uncommon, and I wish this one could have been resolved before it went nuclear. I absolutely believe that neither Bezos nor publisher Will Lewis was involved in the decision to bounce the cartoon back. But I would have run it.
I'm pretty disappointed there.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:22 AM on January 8
I won't dodge the issue, but I also don't plan to make this whole chat about it; my colleague Erik Wemple did just that in his chat yesterday. Opinions Editor David Shipley has said the cartoon was rejected because it was duplicative. That is true, thematically; I believe it was submitted, in fact, the same day the Post published my column about the same thing. That said, columns and cartoon are different media. Disagreements between those of us who opine and our editors are not uncommon, and I wish this one could have been resolved before it went nuclear. I absolutely believe that neither Bezos nor publisher Will Lewis was involved in the decision to bounce the cartoon back. But I would have run it.
I'm pretty disappointed there.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:22 AM on January 8
Updates of late:
* Jennifer Rubin has quit the Post to found her own media organization as of Monday. (non-WaPo link)
* Eugene Robinson seems annoyed at people asking again: but I don't ignore elephants-in-rooms. Some great people have left, and I wish them well. (But not so well that they beat The Post on a single story.) We are not in the business of bowing and scraping to anyone, and if that changes, I promise to let you know.
* Carolyn Hax also really doesn't wanna comment, wishes Ann hadn't immediately quit.
* Washington Post Employees Plead for a Summit With Jeff Bezos
In a letter, more than 400 employees asked Mr. Bezos, the company’s owner, to meet, saying they were “deeply alarmed” by recent decisions at the paper.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:01 PM on January 15
* Jennifer Rubin has quit the Post to found her own media organization as of Monday. (non-WaPo link)
* Eugene Robinson seems annoyed at people asking again: but I don't ignore elephants-in-rooms. Some great people have left, and I wish them well. (But not so well that they beat The Post on a single story.) We are not in the business of bowing and scraping to anyone, and if that changes, I promise to let you know.
* Carolyn Hax also really doesn't wanna comment, wishes Ann hadn't immediately quit.
* Washington Post Employees Plead for a Summit With Jeff Bezos
In a letter, more than 400 employees asked Mr. Bezos, the company’s owner, to meet, saying they were “deeply alarmed” by recent decisions at the paper.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:01 PM on January 15
The Washington Post’s New Mission: Reach ‘All of America’ This week, The Post began trying out a new mission statement: “Riveting Storytelling for All of America.”
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:32 AM on January 16
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:32 AM on January 16
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in darknessposted by snortasprocket at 6:37 PM on January 3 [30 favorites]