Democracy Dies Like This

Yesterday, my friend and cartoonist colleague Ann Telnaes resigned in protest from the Washington Post. Ann has been drawing editorial cartoons for the Post since 2008. She made the announcement on her Substack platform:

“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 featured a handful of American oligarchs — including Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos — bending the knee to Trump, and offering tribute in the form of cash. Mickey Mouse, was depicted in an even worse light, prostrating himself to Trump in a reference to Disney’s $16 million payoff to Trump to settle a dubious defamation suit against ABC News.

I have mixed feelings about this. First, I’ve always admired Ann’s work. She has a strong voice and masterful, unique artwork. I also admire Ann’s integrity and courage for taking a stand.

But I also feel demoralized as an American. There was a time when cartoonists, or any opinion journalist, could rely on our publications to have our backs. Those days are long gone. Large media organizations have multiple conflicts of interest that often trump First Amendment concerns.

Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post while his companies, Amazon Web Services and Blue Origin, seek government contracts that are worth billions. Those contracts dwarf the relative pittance of $250 million Bezos paid for The Post in 2013. To wit, AWS lost a $10 billion defense department contract during the first Trump administration.

Amazon alleged at the time that former President Donald Trump influenced the decision to deny the Pentagon contract, citing a "personal vendetta" against Amazon, CEO Jeff Bezos, and The Washington Post. Amazon's lawyers claimed Trump used his power to intentionally block the company from securing the JEDI contract, and they’re probably right (“cancel culture” is apparently only acceptable when it’s weaponized against the mainstream media or the left).

Our disgust with Bezos costs him a lot less than canceled billion-dollar contracts. Ending your Post subscription costs him little, but it might cost some good reporters their jobs.

Disney has similar conflicts of interest. Disney wants to protect its family-friendly brand of movies, TV shows and theme parks. They faced criticism and boycotts from Trump supporters following a legal dispute with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and accusations of being too “woke.” Trump has also threatened to revoke FCC licenses for ABC and other media organizations that dare criticize him. Disney had far more to lose than the measly $16 million they paid in their ABC settlement.

If we are expecting billionaire oligarchs and massive corporations to protect our free speech rights, we are dreaming. They are behaving exactly as billionaire oligarchs and corporations do, and we have only ourselves to blame. The Graham family sold The Washington Post to Bezos because revenues were declining every year. We haven’t sufficiently supported great newspapers and we are reaping what we’ve sown.

We need independent media organizations, and there are very few of them left. The for-profit journalism model is breaking. Perhaps the future is in nonprofit publications like ProPublica and the Texas Tribune, but we need more of them and we need to support them.

Believe it or not, this situation reminds me of the public outpouring of support for Luigi Mangione, who murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson (bear with me for a moment). I was appalled at the support for a vigilante murderer. The support was rooted in the understandable disdain for health insurance companies and the people who run them. But these corporations are behaving like corporations are designed to behave: to maximize profits. A corporation doesn’t have a conscience. The people that run them might, but if they aren’t sufficiently maximizing profits, the shareholders will replace them with someone who will.

We have chosen these systems, either through action or inaction. If we don’t like them, we need to replace them. If we don’t, they will keep giving us the same results. We don’t adequately support independent journalism. And any time a politician proposes to use the power of government to fix problems in health care, they are smeared as being a “socialist,” and there ain't nuthin’ worse in ‘Murica than a socialist.

If we are expecting corporations and wealthy CEOs to safeguard our health, we are deluding ourselves. If we are expecting corporations and billionaires to safeguard the health of democracy, we are in even worse shape. And if political cartoonists are among the last ones willing to take a stand, well, we are well and truly screwed.