The Media and Democracy Project "Hero of the Month": Ann Telnaes Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes had her cartoon lampooning Jeff Bezos spiked by The Washington Post (owned by Jeff Bezos). Her response was courageous and inspiring. Media and Democracy Project Jan 27 Ann Telnaes Embodies the Power of Editorial Cartoonists This is the draft editorial cartoon by Ann Telnaes that was rejected outright by Washington Post opinion editor and fellow Jeff Bezos employee David Shipley. The cartoon features Jeff Bezos (Amazon/Whole Foods/Zappos/Twitch/Ring/Audible), Sam Altman (OpenAI), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta/Facebook/Instagram/Threads/WhatsApp), Patrick Soon-Shiong (Los Angeles Times), and Mickey Mouse (employee of Disney-ABC). “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. But I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say, “Democracy dies in darkness”. - Ann Telnaes. Read more at her blog “Open Windows” here. We think that Telnaes’ editorial cartoon, acts of courage, and patriotic statement on compromised press freedom at the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post are important to celebrate and amplify. Editorial cartoonists are powerful communicators of complex issues and essential critics of authoritarians and of the rich and powerful. Here are your action steps to show solidarity and support for Ms. Telnaes and #PressFreedom! As we are an action-focused civic organization our members in attendance at our January 13, 2025 meeting voted on and signed a letter to Ms. Telnaes (printed below). We ask our members and subscribers here to support Ann Telnaes in several ways and we ask *you* to support her courage and for YOU to take these actions: Sign up for her blog “Open Windows” to access and receive her powerful editorial cartoons to your INBOX and to become a *paying* member if you can. Learn more about her and her body of work at https://anntelnaes.com Follow Ms. Telnaes on Bluesky here (Bluesky is a non-billionaire controlled social media platform). Be a pollinator of her work and share her powerful editorial cartoons (and blog posts) far and wide. Make a donation to CartoonistsRights.Org and follow them on Bluesky here. We at MAD made a donation to this important international organization. Cartoonists Rights helps cartoonists all over the world “with legal, financial, emotional and moral assistance so that they can do what they do best; advocate against the injustices of this world.” Advocate for #PressFreedom on all your social media accounts and support editorial cartoonists worldwide. Read our recent blog post for ways you can support several groups that fight for #PressFreedom. BONUS action: Enjoy some of the outpouring of creative support for Ms. Telnaes by other editorial cartoonists - and support and share *their* work. Watch this video by Ms. Telnaes from 2016 that captures why having billionaire-controlled media and news that depends heavily on corporate control - is a threat to #PressFreedom: the corporate “golden cage.” Read the letter to Ann Telnaes signed by 60+ MAD members here: Dear Ms. Telnaes, It takes courage to criticize a boss, more so when the criticism is public and the boss is one of the most powerful people in the world. So, it was a gutsy move for you to ink an editorial cartoon lampooning big media executives including your boss, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos for subservience to (and alliance with) a tyrant and menace to press freedom Donald Trump. When Bezos’s employee / editor David Shipley rejected your cartoon, you responded still more bravely - and quit and made a powerful public statement on the reasons why. Walking away from one of the nation’s top news organizations, your home for 17 years and a platform that distributed your much needed and brilliant work to a large audience, could not have been easy. But it was righteous. “I’m just a cartoonist” you wrote, “but I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning.” We write to say thank you and announce that because of your latest actions in support of #PressFreedom and democracy the 60+ undersigned members of the Media and Democracy Project voted to recognize you as our "Media and Democracy Project Hero" for January 2025; for your exemplary courage and ceaseless commitment to journalism, democracy, and press freedom. We are thrilled that the cartoon that got you into “good trouble” - instead of being seen by thousands has now been seen by millions globally because of your public pro-democracy stance and sacrifice. We encourage all Americans interested in a strong democracy to follow, subscribe to, and amplify your work. In addition, the Media and Democracy Project has made a donation to CartoonistsRights.Org. We could not summarize the reasons for our admiration of your actions better than you did in a recent interview with Andy Borowitz. If cartoonists can lose their right to say what they want through their drawings, then the next step could easily be shutting up any person sitting around a coffee shop joking with their friends. “You have to support and protest other people’s right to say what they want to say…” You are. And we thank you. Signed members of the Media and Democracy Project: Rosemary, Bonnie, Denise, Ida, Dan, Mark, Donna Joy, Barb, Melissa, Lori, Julie, Mary Beth, Angela, Sybil, Lilly, Samantha, Jackie, Jessica, Donna, Karin, Susan, Crystal, Carol, Dianne, Marie HK, Yolanda, Diana, Melinda, Ellen, Barbara, Jen, Dana, Michael, Jeanne, Kitty, Abigail, Carol, Kelley, Mary, Tom P, Connie, Mario, Jen, Pam, Mary Lou, Jeanne, John, Janet, Isobel, Michelle, Andrea, Elizabeth, Jo, Brian, Carolyn, Holley, Jonathan, Milo, Noelle, and Sujata Thanks for reading The Media and Democracy Project Blog! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.