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ENDANGERED SPECIES: THE NEWSPAPER CARTOONIST
MEDILL REPORT - "Newspapers are getting rid of cartoonists at an
alarming rate. They're trying to make themselves as irrelevant to
readers as possible," said Milt Priggee, former cartoonist for Crain's
Chicago Business. "The first thing a human being recognizes is visuals.
Children can recognize images before they can read the written word.
The very first person you should be hiring when you start a newspaper is
a cartoonist."
According to Kent Worcester in a 2007 article by the American Political
Science Association, "the waning of two-newspaper cities, the
consolidation of the newspaper industry, and outsourcing in the form of
substituting syndicated material for staff-generated material" are all
to blame.
The result has been a drastic cut in staff cartoonist jobs, from 2,000
in the early 20th century, to nearly 200 in the 1980's, to less than 90
today. . .
Ted Rall, an editorial cartoonist whose work appears in more than 140
U.S. newspapers, has witnessed a "continuing trend away from editorial
cartoons to illustrations of the news."
"These are cartoons that kind of don't tell you anything you didn't
already know," said Rall.
Nick Anderson is a staff cartoonist for the Houston Chronicle and the
2005 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.
"Occasionally I will indulge in something funny, and it's fine to keep
readers engaged with something lighthearted," said Anderson. But "the
operative word in editorial cartoons is editorial."
"What you see printed in national editions is definitely watered down
and safe," said Anderson. "But that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of
good, pointed commentary going on."
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ENDANGERED SPECIES: THE NEWSPAPER CARTOONIST
MEDILL REPORT - "Newspapers are getting rid of cartoonists at an
alarming rate. They're trying to make themselves as irrelevant to
readers as possible," said Milt Priggee, former cartoonist for Crain's
Chicago Business. "The first thing a human being recognizes is visuals.
Children can recognize images before they can read the written word.
The very first person you should be hiring when you start a newspaper is
a cartoonist."
According to Kent Worcester in a 2007 article by the American Political
Science Association, "the waning of two-newspaper cities, the
consolidation of the newspaper industry, and outsourcing in the form of
substituting syndicated material for staff-generated material" are all
to blame.
The result has been a drastic cut in staff cartoonist jobs, from 2,000
in the early 20th century, to nearly 200 in the 1980's, to less than 90
today. . .
Ted Rall, an editorial cartoonist whose work appears in more than 140
U.S. newspapers, has witnessed a "continuing trend away from editorial
cartoons to illustrations of the news."
"These are cartoons that kind of don't tell you anything you didn't
already know," said Rall.
Nick Anderson is a staff cartoonist for the Houston Chronicle and the
2005 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning.
"Occasionally I will indulge in something funny, and it's fine to keep
readers engaged with something lighthearted," said Anderson. But "the
operative word in editorial cartoons is editorial."
"What you see printed in national editions is definitely watered down
and safe," said Anderson. "But that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of
good, pointed commentary going on."
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