原文 https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-quitting-the-washington-post
这张草图简单深刻
Why I'm quitting the Washington Post
Democracy can't function without a free press
ANN TELNAES JAN 04, 2025
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. There have been multiple articles recently about these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-lago. 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.
While it isn’t uncommon for editorial page editors to object to visual metaphors within a cartoon if it strikes that editor as unclear or isn’t correctly conveying the message intended by the cartoonist, such editorial criticism was not the case regarding this cartoon. 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.
(rough of cartoon killed)
Over the years I have watched my overseas colleagues risk their livelihoods and sometimes even their lives to expose injustices and hold their countries’ leaders accountable. As a member of the Advisory board for the Geneva based Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and a former board member of Cartoonists Rights, I believe that editorial cartoonists are vital for civic debate and have an essential role in journalism.
There will be people who say, “Hey, you work for a company and that company has the right to expect employees to adhere to what’s good for the company”. That’s true except we’re talking about news organizations that have public obligations and who are obliged to nurture a free press in a democracy. Owners of such press organizations are responsible for safeguarding that free press— and trying to get in the good graces of an autocrat-in-waiting will only result in undermining that free press.
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”.
Thank you for reading this.
我为什么辞职不在华盛顿邮报干了---没有新闻自由 民主社会不会正常运转
ANN TELNAES 2025年1月4日
自2008年起我就在华盛顿邮报担任社评漫画家，对于我投稿发行的漫画都有社评反馈和有成效的对话和不同意见，但是在过去的所有时间里，我从没有遇到过因为我的笔对准谁或什么事而漫画遭到封杀，直到现在。
被封杀的漫画是批判科技和媒体的亿万富豪首席执行官们尽力地拍将要上任的当选总统特朗普的马屁。近期有许多篇关于这些拥有利润丰厚地政府合同和期望消除政府监管的人跑去Mar-a-lago。漫画中的人包括马克·扎克伯格/脸书&Meta创始人和CEO，萨姆·奥尔特曼/AI CEO，陈颂雄/洛杉矶时报发行人，沃尔特·迪斯尼公司/ABC新闻，和杰夫·贝索斯/华盛顿邮报拥有人。
评论页面的编辑如果觉得漫画家表达的信息不明确或不准确而反对漫画中的比喻，这也不是不同寻常，但这张漫画并不是这种原因。应该说清楚的是，有这种草图被拒绝或修改的情况出现过，但从来没有是因为漫画中评论的观点。这是完全改变了游戏规则，对一个自由媒体而言非常危险。
（封杀的草图）
很长一段时间以来，我目睹了海外的同僚冒着职业风险和有时候生命风险去揭露不公正和监督国家领导人。作为一名所在地在日内瓦的自由漫画基金会咨询委员会的成员 和漫画家权利委员会的前成员，我认为社评漫画家们对于公民社会的对话至关重要，在新闻业中有十分重要的作用。
有些人会说“畏，你在一个公司工作，那个公司有权要求员工做对公司有利的事”。那是事实，但我们在讨论的是有公共义务的新闻机构，一个在民主社会有义务呵护新闻自由的组织。这样的新闻机构的拥有者有责任守护新闻自由 ----试图讨好一个正在等待成为独裁者的人 这样只会损坏新闻自由。
作为一个社评漫画家，我的工作是要让有权力的人和机构受到监督。这是第一次，我的编辑阻止我做我的工作。所以我决定离开华邮。我对我的决定会引起很大波澜持怀疑的态度，也将会被忽略，因为我只是一个漫画家。但是我不会停止透过漫画来说出事实真相，因为就像他们说的那样，“民主会在黑暗中死去”。
谢谢阅读这篇文章。
