nnouncer: "q & a" week "q & a" -- this week on "q & a". ann telnaes. work and howut her rise ofhanged since the sites.media , how do youlnaes describe the work you do?

it is challenging, it is meant to be visual commentary. people sometimes do not know that. i have a lot of people ask me why aren't you more fair? t ofrtoonist has a poin view and we do it with images. host: when did you develop your point of view? 20's.lnaes: my early i was not interested in politics until later on. host: how would you describe your point of the? ms. telnaes: i am liberal.

people would say you are just a democrat. i am not a democrat. i am a registered independent. liberal, some are more conservative. we will attack anyone. i have done plenty of cartoons about democrats behaving badly. host: -- what were the circumstances? ms. telnaes: i was born in sweden. my mother in german. my father was working for ibm at the time. we just happened to be in sweden. everyone assumes i am swedish but i am actually norwegian.

became american citizens when i was a teenager. i went to swedish school from first to third grade. host: where did you get your schooling? education? a college ms. telnaes: to do editorial cartooning, you know you don't go to school for that. i went to college for a couple of years and i decided to go to an art school. school that teaches character animation. to california for college. imagineering

division at august the company. that is how i started. i had no intention to become an editorial cartoonist but i felt, there were a couple of situations that happened, i felt i wanted to become one. host: what were the situations? ms. telnaes: i was working for the disney company and i had my television on as background noise. tiananmen989 and the square massacre happened. i was so upset about it at the stop andcided to create my own editorial cartoon. i felt the need to do one.

i knew about editorial cartooning but only from an art standpoint. i had access to an incredible draftsperson and i was already looking at his work. read the me want to news. i started watching c-span in 1989 and became more interested in social issues. but finally propelled me to become an editorial cartoonist was in 1991, the anita hill-clarence thomas case. as a young woman who had dealt with sexual harassment a seen it firsthand, i was appalled at the senators. they had the attitude they did not believe her and did not believe sexual harassment

existed because they had passed laws. i put together a portfolio and sent it out. host: who did you send it to? ms. telnaes: i found a list of newspapers, a directory, and sends it to every newspaper in the country. i was living in long beach. host: when was the first moment you knew you were going to get a chance to do that kind of work? ms. telnaes: i was still working for disney. and moved here. i think a friend suggested i go to washington and i became nationally syndicated in 1995. freelanced,s been but syndicated. i gathered newspaper clients.

host: we have some video of you working at your board. where do you normally work? ms. telnaes: i work in my apartment. i work at my kitchen counter. host: how long have you done that? ms. telnaes: the last 10 years. host: this is a video we have found. let's watch you doing your work. i i draw by hand. scan intoper and whatever program i am using. to place it correctly the squarets it on peg you.

you want the audience to understand what you are doing. i am using motion. point of view.a ms. telnaes: that was my kitchen. host: did you learn the animation at disney? ms. telnaes: at california institute of the arts i learned the traditional way. flipping. this was before using computers and flash. i did print for a very long time. decided i wanted to animate them. i had a general knowledge. it was like riding a bicycle. at that point i was doing flash. gifs.am doing animated

it is still the same. i'm still doing it on paper. computermate on the but i am more comfortable with print. one that involves china, russia and the u.n. 10 seconds. that is not a gif. with gifs/do sound . but i still approach it the same way. graphicfs stand for imaging format. what is a gif?

of those?s one ms. telnaes: there's a couple of reasons i switched over to them. they are fast. you can do them on loops. and faster forer me. movie files,ing a video to go into system. call thosedo you again? ms. telnaes: the ones with sound are done in flash. they are movie files.

ms. telnaes host: what did we just see? a. telnaes: there was -- ement ms. telnaes: -- again/et's watch . sound affect help a lot. animation onook at virginia requiring ultrasounds for abortion.

explain that. ms. telnaes: i look at it as if the state is requiring you to have an ultrasound. it is basically putting their hands on your body. it is a visual metaphor. to see a handprint shows you she has been violated and that is the point. hohost: how long did it take you to do that? ms. telnaes: that is a difficult question. once you have the idea, a couple of hours depending on how complicated. it is always about getting the idea. you are always sketching little ideas. i could have been thinking about that for days or i could have come up with it that morning.

host: when do you get your best ideas? ms. telnaes: i am a morning person. usually when i get up and have had my cup of coffee. usually after a walk. towards the end of the day my brain turns to mush. most cartoonist r knight people but i can -- are night people. other waybe the around. host: what brought you to do this one? why so much on the nra? ms. telnaes: it is one of the issues i am interested in. i think the nra is crazy. i'm not against someone's right to own a gun but it should be

regulated. host: why are the nra crazy? leewaynaes: there is no for them. they see any kind of regulation as taking away the right to own a gun. i think it is more about money. gun issues have always been something for me. host: what about the millions of people who pay money to the nra? what do you think they are about? ms. telnaes: i know people who are in ra members. some of them do not have a problem with regulation. but some of them are rethinking their membership. mostill see this with issues, we go after people who have a lot of power and institutions.

the nra has a lot of power. people who iing don't think should own a gun, i'm talking about the nra and the policies they have. with any other issue i address, you do not attack individual people. host: let's watch the one we have of the nra. [gunshots] ms. telnaes: this is right after the sandy hook masker. sacre. we could not get any legislation passed. you did not see many representatives talking about it. it went nowhere.

you have a group of children being massacred and you cannot have a conversation about it. host: what do you expect gun owners to do? what kind of regulation would you want? cartoons i: and my do not try to push things -- in my cartoons i do not try to push things. i tried to show how absurd thing s are. i was born overseas. my parents are european. the gun laws are a lot different overseas. the numbers figure it out. how many numbers we have your bike guns. murders we have here by guns.

to bringhere solutions, i bring up the questions. host: the perpetual war on te rror. i've done so many cartoons, i can't remember what i did yesterday. host: what if people want to see your cartoons? ms. telnaes: washington post online. host: what do they expect from you? ms. telnaes: i have a certain amount i do a week. we have an agreement. review whatrs who i'm going to do. they let me comment on what i want to comment on.

i started out doing animation. they wanted a certain amount a week. i did that for a couple of years and then i said with how things are changing, i would like to have a blog. that way i have the option of doing an animated gif. i have written things about issues and i did live sketches. it gives me the flexibility of myng whatever medium hits idea. host: what kind of response do you get on the internet? ms. telnaes: the biggest response i received was on the

burkini,re the french coveredtely there were photos of a woman on the beach who had covered herself and the police were making her undress. with a womannen pullingiddle and one is puttingburka and one is it back on. this was on social media. it receives over a million views

on the washington post facebook page. fromeived positive reviews both women who chose to cover themselves and those who did not. all they were seeing was let us decision on what we want to wear. we have so much conversation about this but it did not see women have a say. host: let's look at this one on terror. ms. telnaes: ok. 9/11.in washington during i lived in the city. think, every single time we

have a terror issue it seems like there is always an overreaction. in israel, they always have terrorism but people do not live it.r lives according to a are people laugh and they have a good time. in this country i see people being paralyzed by it. i think the politicians have a lot of responsibility because of how they talk about it. that was the point i was making in that cartoon. things thinking we

can gain security and that is not true. host: how long are they? ms. telnaes: 15 seconds, not more than that. it was a lot of work, by the way. host: how long would and 18 second one take -- an 18 second one take? ms. telnaes: the animation takes longer. you have to do several drawings. you have to map it out and figure it out. what i was doing only animation, that was a long day. 14 hours from beginning to end. host: the next one is something i did not see until we had asked you to come talk to us about what you do. you will see why i am smiling

about this. too much money in politics. >> i forget what the figures are but i think we spend less on our presidential campaign each year when there is a presidential election that the country spends on cosmetics. theeople are worried corporations now can buy -- >> if you believe that you ought to go back to monarchy. ms. telnaes: did you like how i drew you? host: it is a weird experience to see it. i remember justice scalia here saying nothing. ms. telnaes: i thought he was talking apples and oranges, that

point he was making. there are so many things going on in that interview. talkinge thing of him about that issue but he was completely against cameras in the courtroom and here he is on camera. i thought this is a great opportunity for a cartoon. that?how much do you see ms. telnaes: that people are critical, a lot. hypocritical,are a lot. host: where do you go for your material? turn thees: i get up, radio on.

with the internet, i will check the overseas news first. 6 hours. been up for check the washington post. can doeelancer, i research, i can do anything online. i did not get a newspaper anymore. i do everything online. things.ook at a few start doing sketches in my sketchbook and by lunch i will decide on something. i can be thinking about something the night before and

know exactly what i'm going to do. pageshow many different -- ms. telnaes: poses. do?: how many poses do you ms. telnaes: that probably took me 14 hours. hisd to do your mouth and mouth. there were a lot of drawings in that. over 20. but it was a good piece. president of the the editorial cartoonists association. ms. telnaes: the aaec. host: how did you become president? ms. telnaes: we are a small organization.

we all try to serve at some point and this was my year to serve. host: how many are there in the association? ms. telnaes: 154 regular members. retiredthing includes nd students overseas. we used to have about 200 members live on papers. we are mostly freelancers now. every president has something they want to pursue. i thought i was going to be president when we had a woman president. we have president trump and i have been going around

wondering if one of my members is going to get sued. meeting coming up in november. host: why would you expect some of your members to be sued? ms. telnaes: this administration obviously does not understand what a free press does. i'm concerned my members, especially because they are images,sts, we deal in they create a lot of controversy sometimes and we have always had members they get some kind of legal action against them. it doesn't necessarily go to court but someone will threaten the with legal action. concerned with this administration, with this president --he obviously doesn't understand what the first amendment is all about.

that is what i have been doing. show some gifs. gif depicting senator mcconnell on health care. what am i looking at? ms. telnaes: when was this? i guess this was before trump became president. rid ofre trying to get obamacare. they are pulling the rug out from under everybody who has health care coverage. and i can use that again. i hear they are going to try yet again. like this gif

available on an archive on "the washington post"? gif depictinga dylan roof. ms. telnaes: i know which one business. -- i know which one this is. i want to say that what he does is no different than what isis does. but iuld do it as a still think the on thehere is a gif republican platform on women's issues. this was back during the campaign. on telnaes: this was early

when i believe trump had just announced, and they were worried that he was going to be bad for them in terms of voters. you are worried now? considering how far back they have had a anti-women's platform with reproductive rights, equal pay? brian: speaking of president trump, has he been a gift for cartoonists? ms. telnaes: i get that a lot. let's put it this way. we do not have to look for anything to do, but now it is an issue of trying to decide what you want to comment on. we're like anyone else. this is our country, we are worried where we are going. am not looking for anything to comment on.

has been amazing. summer is usually a time where cartoonists are looking for things, because congress is out of session, people are on vacation, not this summer. there has been no let up. ofan: do you have any sense which cartoonists in history have had the biggest impact? editorial cartoonists. ms. telnaes: depending on the time in history. bloc has beenhervl around. walden. he is a st. louis paper. hard-hittingery cartoons about civil rights which the syndicate did not want him to do. he came fresh out of world war ii. he did not -- he wanted to

comment on civil rights. things.ard-hitting so much wonderful work. the sexual abuse scandal in the catholic church, very hard-hitting. he got a lot of pushback on those and never let up. when do you have the most impact? what is going on in the country? right now, for us, especially cartoonists, there is the whole issue about what this presidency is doing to the constitution and what that means, and how he views free press. overseas, they are having issues. doesrkey, that president not have a sense of humor, either.

he likes to jail people who criticize them, including a cartoonist who is now on trial. i never thought this country would ever have a president that seems to think along those same lines. that the press is not fair to question him, they are there to give him validation? i never would have expected that. brian: here is a gif about governor scott walker from wisconsin. what are we seeing? scott walker considers building a wall along the canadian border. that is a bunch of americans jumping over the wall. americans looking for universal health care, since we do not have it. and the canadians do. i thought this is a good image to do. any of the canadian papers or websites run this?

ms. telnaes: i don't know. with social media, you do not know how many cartoons are run every day. with social media, i do not know. brian: what is your sense about the static hurricane in the newspaper and the motion ones static cartoon in the newspaper and the motion ones you do? ms. telnaes: i think static cartoons and be very powerful. said, iation, like i think certain ideas work better with animation. now with the internet, we can do that. we could not do that in the newspaper before. it is another avenue. also want a way -- we to attract younger members. they are used to being online. they are used to using different

medians -- mediums. it shows that they can also be cartoonists, but not in the traditional sense. it is another way we can express ideas. brian: you said 55 active members now doing editorial cartoons on staff for newspapers. how many of them are conservative? ms. telnaes: we have some. not a lot. brian: i know ramirez has been here. he did a show. ? the -- the georgia paper. the indianapolis paper. we do not have a lot. i think it is because cartoonists, by their nature, are irreverent. that does not fit in with the

conservative persona. we tend to push. we want to create friction. i think that is mainly the reason. but i do not know. .rian: here is one last gif a saudi official heading up the u.n. human rights council. i assume that is ahead. ms. telnaes: it is a head. it is rolling. i think the rolling shocks people. it is commenting on the ridiculousness of having a country like saudi arabia on a human rights council. i have done another on that

issue. brian: what do you think of the united states paying 22% of the u.n. bill and getting something like this on it? think the u.n. is important. i am not criticizing that. i am criticizing what the u.n. is doing. but the u.n.'s political, just like anything else. brian: why would they have somebody from saudi arabia on the human rights council? ms. telnaes: you should be asking someone from the u.n. that. not a cartoonist. 24, 2014.ember here is a news report that involves you. -- trump is angry over a political cartoon featuring his daughters. the washington post ran this

cartoon depicting cruises to daughters as monkeys. >> the grinch who lost her a males. i will use my own cameras, no one will be the wiser. brian: how much trouble did you get in for that? ms. telnaes: a lot. i had four days of continuous emails, tweets, people getting messages to me. which was probably the nicest word they said to me. one guy wanted to hit me in the head with a baseball bat. another guy said i should be raped to death. it started an avalanche. i have to say, thank you for the videoe part of

where his daughter read from the script. that was an issue. we are very used to getting criticized. they tell us we are stupid, and idiot. we get that through letters, emails. but this was interesting because social media definitely was the reason why this took off the way it did. i do not work in the office, i work at home. that probably also contributed to it. it happened very fast. i remember when i set the cartoon in for the editor to upload. as soon as it was published, i watched my twitter feed. it was rolling like a slot machine. quickly a mailed him and said, you have to look at this, something is happening. supportersppened was

of the cruise campaign got a hold of it and ran with it. immediately, the post pulled it down. in social media, that does not matter, it is already up there. italked with my editor about hethe washington post and has a policy of not doing anything about children. do, asal cartoonists well. we do not go after children. they do not have any say in who they are. but this one grabbed my attention because i was working on something else, i watched the parity video you showed of ted cruz reading to his children christmas stories that had been doctored. and i thought -- i was listening

hist, and i heard comment daughter is reading this, that is different. his daughter is reading a political script. i can comment on that. my cartoon was not attacking children, it was attacking ted cruz for using his children. the image i used was an organ grinder, not many people know what in organ grinder as. -- not many people know what and organ grinder is. it got online. when the social media train took off, that is when everything started happening. ofe i said, it was four days continuous abuse. it took me two days to go through everything because i was looking for threats which i had to tell the post about. unique situation.

i think is happening now. we just had this happen in politico. the cartoonist did a cartoon criticizing -- doing a cartoon on the flood in houston. he was criticizing the conservatives who are always saying they do not need government and their lives. somebody online ticket, someone generalist,ed, a talking about he was criticizing the survivors of the hurricane. that is not what he was saying at all. but if you get somebody in social media putting forth the narrative, it is hard to stop it when people start reposting. that is one of the things we have to deal with that we did not have to deal with before, is social media. brian: i do cartoonists fair game, now that you get kickback all the time? i am a free speech

absolutist. you can call me any name you want. but if you threaten me, that is different. brian: let's go back to the language that you got when people came back on you on the internet. what does that tell you? ms. telnaes: because i am a woman, this is different. my male colleagues do not get this. i am not the only woman online who has perceived that. gaming get abused on social media. two women sports journalists who did a video called more than mean, which is an eye-opening video. i courage everyone to watch it. what they have done is, they have two women journalists sit setss from a man from the who reads these emails the women have gotten.

they are exactly like the ones i got. violent, sexually violent, misogynistic. that is different from what i received before social media. brian: you mentioned earlier about viewers -- about you being sexually harassed years ago. can you give us details and how that impacted you? ms. telnaes: i do not want to go into details. but in terms of -- sexual harassment has different forms. i was very young in my career. harassed and did not get a job because of that person. , being a young woman in business. it is hard to speak out against it. that is something i have always found interesting speaking with people, especially when i was younger.

people are confused as to why i need a hill did not come forward. when you're starting your career, the last thing you want to do is be known as a troublemaker. if they knew i was a problem already, i would not get a job. it is different now. i am an old woman now. i will stand up to anyone who says anything, because i have the career now. brian: do you have a family? ms. telnaes: my mother is still alive, and i have a dog. no children. brian: let's look at your still cartoons. you can make some comments. we will start with this one i'm sure you have seen before. ms. telnaes: this one was in reaction to the charlottesville protests and violence. brian: in the center, it says many sides.

another one of -- ms. telnaes: i used the metaphor here no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. senator mcconnell, speaker ryan. i have done plenty of work on those two. just -- the are fact that they do not seem to acknowledge what our president does is amazing to me. here is one about the antiabortion vote. ms. telnaes: this is vice president pence. i do not remember who did the interview. he was interviewed and he said he never goes to any washington dinners without his wife. he does not go anywhere without his wife. he is not added dinner with any other women and less his wife is with him.

and i thought, this is a gift. you do not have any problem voting about a woman's personal reproductive choices, one of the most personal and intimate things a woman can deal with, but you will not go to dinner with a woman fully clothed at the same table? brian: explain this one, the popcorn. done as manyi have times, criticizing the media. as soon as we start having any , all of aitary action sudden it is ratings, television. they make it seem almost romantic. and it is war. it is violence. fbi.: there is on the ms. telnaes: james comey. this was during the presidential

campaign when he gave the press conference about the hillary clinton investigation. i thought, wow. that was so wrong. at the bottom it says if you have any information concerning this person, call one 800 fbi. when you job person, what is your attitude about how close they have to look to themselves? ms. telnaes: that james comey was not -- i should have labeled him. that was my first james comey. brian: here is hillary clinton. ms. telnaes: this was sketching during debates. this was a quote she gave when they questioned her about the money she was making for speeches. brian: how much impact do you think that made on her not winning, that she was making money on speeches? ms. telnaes: yes, i think it had an impact.

it appeared that she was elitist. i think it is a little hypocritical, because a lot of politicians take money for speeches. brian: who is the next person in this cartoon, we will see it in one second? ms. telnaes: that is newt and the ambassador to the vatican. you will notice the vatican colors. holding -- radel.naes: the jesters .- the jesters rattle this one was a response to the the one whoyer,

knelt during the anthem. everyone is criticizing him. brian: what was your personal reaction? this one is complicated, we .tart on the left the justice says, i am not going to answer, you answer. ben ginsburg says, i am not going to answer that. then on the far right, i bet it is -- they recently put all the cases online. they announced it a year ago. this is prior to justice scalia passing away. i thought this was so funny, just the fact that they will not allow cameras.

i love drawing the supreme court. reason why is the they will not allow cameras in the courtroom? ms. telnaes: i do not know. it is ridiculous. they claim it is because they do not want it to become a circus type atmosphere. i can kind of understand the reasoning for that. we have cameras in congress. we get to watch that. of course there is playing to the cameras. but i find it very hypocritical when every justice will go on camera to sell a book. i do not understand what the differences. i think cameras should be in the courtroom. it is not easy to get in there to watch. case,t is an important there is always a long line. i would love to get in there and draw. brian: right now in the library of congress, they have a big

exhibit of sketch artists. most of them are women who sketch. but you cannot get in there? ms. telnaes: i guess i stood in line, i could try. it is hard to get a press pass to get in there. brian: if someone was watching and said they would love to do what you have done, and you go whatto when you started, do you put your finger on as how you got to be successful? what did you do? ms. telnaes: i tell anyone who wants to become an editorial cartoonist that you have to want to get up every morning and read a bunch of news and be interested. not everyone is. there are a lot of great cartoonists out there that do not do editorial work.

you have to because it is relentless. you are doing it everyday. that is the main thing. you have to have a passion for it. even when you go on vacation, you are thinking about it. brian: how did you become successful when you look back on it? as i tell anyone starting out, it is a common asian of working really hard, practicing what you do, so when the opportunity comes up, when the lock comes to you, you are ready for it. i just worked. i loved it. i was still working for disney at the time and getting up at 3:00 in the morning and working on my editorial cartoons. that is when i was young enough i could do that. brian: let's go back to some more cartoons. this is president obama. what is that? ms. telnaes: you found an old one.

i think you have a screenshot. you have money behind him. on the left, a piggy bank. that is as: screenshot from and animation. i do not remember. he was talking about money and politics. brian: let's go to the next one. would you like to explain it? ms. telnaes: i am trying to remember -- go. i do not remember specifically what gun incident this was about. in this country, we do not seem to have a problem with violence. we see all the time on television, movies, everywhere. , that ising about sex censored. sure: the next one i'm triggers a memory. what impact did this have on cartoonists? ms. telnaes: that morning, i had

the news on. were eight hours behind france. i remember walking around thinking, did i hear correctly? five cartoonists were killed? we are a small group. we know a lot of each other. reading, i was listening to the television, contacting colleagues, finding out what happened. realized the and already of it, i had seen online this photograph of one of the cartoonists, the editor. there is a famous photo of him standing in defiance after their offices were bombed for printing the mohammed cartoon. he is doing a fast.

list -- fist.g a when tragedy strikes, it is hard to do cartoons until you find out exactly what happens. this was an emotional cartoon. brian: this one is from 2014. ms. telnaes: yes. it was the whole, i can't breathe. you're asking me to remember all of these things. the guy who was killed in new york who said he can't breathe. just cannotricans see what he is going through. brian: we have time for one last cartoon. here are cardinals. no oneleft, he says, oh altar boy. on the right, there is another one.

they are tricking wine and toasting. your comments about this one? ms. telnaes: this was before social media. this was in response to the sexual abuse cases in the church in boston. i did some a cartoons about that. thought, drinking wine, standing around. that is when you use one thing and tweak it a little bit. brian: what is the future of cartooning? ms. telnaes: i do not know. but i think it is good. with the internet, we have a lot of opportunities. i think we're in the very beginning stages. it is hard to make money like anyone else online. but in terms of the medium, we of art different ways

expressing ourselves now. i think it is important. i am hoping more young people will get interested in it. earlier, we told you and was born in sweden and works in her kitchen. not syndicatedam now. i am exclusive to the washington post. brian: and, i think you for doing this. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: for free transcripts were to give us your comments about this program, visit us at q-and-a.org. "q&a" programs are also

available as c-span podcast. announcer: if you enjoyed this week's "q&a" interview, here are some other programs you might like. artist and writer molly crabapple on her drawings of the israeli-palestinian conflict and guantánamo bay detention facility. editorial cartoonist michael ramirez talking about his career and book "give me liberty or give me obamacare." and our 2012 interview with antonin scalia a on his book "reading law." you can watch these anytime or search our entire video library at c-span.org. c-span's "washington journal," live every day with news and policy issues that