Spiking a Political Cartoon Backfired Big Time

Charlie Sykes: “To fully absorb the profound stupidity of the Wapo’s decision, consider the alternative timeline in which the paper published Ann Telnaes’s sketch. If the Wapo had published it, both the paper and Bezos would have looked… better. The paper would have reasserted a modicum of independence and integrity; and even Bezos would have benefited.”

“Instead of looking like a thin-skinned, craven autocrat, he would have looked like someone big enough to tolerate criticism.”

John Gruber: “Telnaes’s draft of the cartoon is now the most celebrated and re-posted political cartoon in recent memory.”

Meanwhile, in-house media critic Erik Wemple asked why the newspaper didn’t cover the resignation of Telnaes over her cartoon, and editor Matt Murray informed him about a new policy “that broadly we should not cover ourselves.”