The Washington Post’s cartoon team has taken a measure of revenge on the newspaper’s decision to avoid making a formal presidential endorsement with a dark formless image clearly designed to skewer the “Democracy Dies in Darkness” slogan that the outlet adopted during billionaire Jeff Bezos’s ownership.
The image was published hours after it was revealed that Bezos, who has owned the paper since 2012, had pulled the plug on a prepared endorsement of Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the 5 November election.
The cartoon commentary was created by Pulitzer prize-winning illustrator Ann Telnaes, who is known for her incisive political representations.
This has always been “best practice”. I want to support one big outlet that has the muscle to put pressure on an administration, but that doesn’t mean that they become my only source of news. At the moment I tip Guardian whenever I read an article that I feel went the extra mile. I need to figure out how to tip Al Jazeera too because they have been amazing for years. No outlet is perfect and many sins I can forgive. Bending to the will of a billionaire is not one of those sins.