Washington:
The Washington Post’s award-winning political cartoonist resigns after publishing a cartoon depicting the paper’s billionaire owner cringing before Donald Trump was rejected. announced.
“This is the first time a comic has been killed because of who I pointed my pen at or because of the content,” Ann Ternes posted on Substack late Friday.
The cartoon she included in her post included Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, Facebook and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, and other media and tech moguls. They are depicted kneeling in front of a giant statue of President Trump and holding up bags containing large sums of money.
It also features a prostrate Mickey Mouse, the symbol of Disney, which owns ABC News. The television network recently reached a $15 million settlement with Trump after he was sued for defamation over its coverage of a sex abuse trial in New York.
Ternaes wrote that while her sketches had been rejected before, this was the first time she had been rejected because of her “point of view.”
“This is a game changer and dangerous for press freedom,” she said.
The Washington Post, whose slogan is “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” said Ternas’ research had not been rejected by “malign forces.”
Editorial page editor David Shipley said in a statement: “We just published a column on the same theme as the cartoon, and were already planning another column – this time satire.” said. “The only prejudice was against repetition.”
US media aggressively covered President Trump’s tumultuous first term, which included two impeachments, ended with him refusing to acknowledge his loss in the 2020 election, and a mob of supporters storming the Capitol. It culminated in the intrusion into the
As President Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November, prepares for his inauguration on January 20, there are signs that he is keen to build good relationships with top CEOs, including the media.
A string of powerful people, from Apple CEO Tim Cook to Bezos Zuckerberg, came to meet Trump at his Florida mansion.
Elon Musk, owner of the influential social media platform X and the world’s richest person, is one of the president-elect’s closest advisers.
Amazon and Meta both announced $1 million donations to President Trump’s Inaugural Fund, with Apple’s Cook reportedly personally involved.
Just before the presidential election, Bezos caused a stir when he broke with longstanding tradition and ruled against The Post’s endorsement of candidates.
Ternes, who has won a Pulitzer Prize and other awards for his work, had been with the paper since 2008.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
