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DECEMBER 30, 2005
RARE OPPORTUNITY
Our readers will have a rare opportunity to see my live, smiling
face on MSNBC television, on Sunday January 1st, at about 10:45am
Eastern, 7:45am Pacific. It is your chance to say,"THAT'S
what Cagle looks like? I'd have never guessed!"
DECEMBER 29, 2005
FRIENDLY INTERVIEW
My home-town newspaper, the Santa Barbara News-Press, did a big
interview with me, that you can read
here.
DECEMBER 27 2005
Cartoonist Scott Stantis noted my jab at conservative
readers and adds this comment:
As for this weeks blog on conservative
cartoonists, or lack thereof, I have a few ideas on that.
You and I both know that a vast majority of cartoonists are liberal
or at the very least left of center. Many folks over the years
have asked why. One aspect of this question that doesn't seem
to be addressed is temperament. Cartoonists are, first and foremost,
(regardless of the snobs), artists. And most artists are radical
in their outlook. The good ones, any way. To see the world in
a new and expressive way would tend to make the artist one that
screams for a fundamental shift in the dominant paradigm. To
be an artist means to see things in a new way. To remove oneself
from the fray and observe life from an objective perch. Could
any one not see what fools these mortals be? Apply this to a
political outlook and you can get some pretty radical and often
outlandish viewpoints.
On a personal note, I consider myself a radical. Ronald Reagan
inspired me to embrace an agenda that you would have to admit,
definitely radically changed the political landscape. Not just
in this country but around the world. It is that kind of radical
conservatism, (or classical liberalism, if you choose), that
drives me as a commentator and an artist.
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DECEMBER 26, 2005
NEW CAPTION CONTEST
We have a new caption contest from greeting
card cartoonist, Dan Reynolds.
This time, Dan is offering a Reynolds t-shirt
as the prize for the winning caption.
Entries should be sent to cartoonist89@hotmail.com
Also, anyone interested in buying reprints or an original of
any REYNOLDS UNWRAPPED cartoon from Reader's Digest or from www.reynoldsunwrapped.com
can contact Dan at the same e-mail address.
DECEMBER 24, 2005
HOLIDAY TREAT FOR OUR CONSERVATIVE COMPLAINERS
Our conservative readers are vocal
about the "fact" that we have "no conservative
cartoonists on the site." so I thought I would include this
holiday treat ...
Did I write "holiday treat"? Of-course I meant "Christmas
treat."
Our conservative readers are incessantly complaining that the
cartoonists are "all liberal" so today we added Sean
Delonas to the site. Sean draws for the New York Post and describes
himself as "conservative leaning." E-mail
Sean here. And here is Sean's Christmas treat.
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DECEMBER 23, 2005
 THIS JUST IN
FROM E&P
Editor
& Publisher, the trade
magazine for the newspaper industry, just posted this interesting
article (below) about your e-mails to the Tribune Company's Gary
Weitman. Some of you may have noticed that when you clicked on
our link
to send your email to Weitman, a copy also went to cari@cagle.com,
where my loyal editor, Cari Bartley, has been keeping count of
the e-mails as they come in and has been forwarding selections
for the blog (read below). If you would like to write again to
Weitman to complain about the Tribune Company's cartoon cutbacks
(note that the LA Times now frequently runs their Op-Ed page
with no cartoon at all) you can still send
an e-mail by clicking here. You might also want to ask him
when he is going to respond.
After 'Black Ink Monday' Cartoon Protest,
Volume of E-mail is Debated
By Dave Astor
Published: December 23, 2005 1:45 PM ET
NEW YORK In their Dec. 12 "Black Ink Monday"
action to protest job cuts, editorial cartoonists not only drew
cartoons but also urged readers to send e-mails to Tribune Co.
Vice President of Corporate Communications Gary Weitman.
How many messages has Weitman received
during the past 11 days? Daryl Cagle mentioned on his editorial
cartoon blog that he has been CCed more than 1,000 e-mails to
Weitman. Cagle, when reached Friday by E&P, added that Weitman
also undoubtedly received other e-mails that weren't CCed to
the blog.
But Weitman, also reached Friday by E&P,
said the 1,000-plus figure is "not accurate." He said
the amount of e-mails is lower, but declined to give an exact
number.
Cagle, after seeing Weitman quoted in the
Chicago Reader as promising to answer all the e-mails, asked
his blog visitors to CC him some of Weitman's replies. Everyone
who wrote Cagle on that subject said they hadn't heard from Weitman
yet.
Weitman told E&P he'll respond to the
messages. "I take seriously the e-mails I get sent,"
he said.
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists
(AAEC) -- which organized "Black Ink Monday" (E&P
Online, Dec. 12) urged readers to e-mail Weitman because some
of the most prominent losses of editorial cartoon jobs have been
at Tribune Co.-owned papers. Kevin "KAL" Kallaugher
accepted a buyout at The Sun of Baltimore effective next month,
and the paper said it doesn't plan to replace him in the foreseeable
future. The Sun's Mike Lane previously accepted a buyout in July
2004. Also, the Los Angeles Times announced last month that it
was laying off Michael Ramirez at the end of 2005 and eliminating
the position. And the Chicago Tribune never replaced Jeff MacNelly
after he died in 2000.
But Weitman noted that other Tribune Co.
papers -- including Newsday of Melville, N.Y., The Hartford (Conn.)
Courant, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
of Fort Lauderdale -- still have staff cartoonists. "Each
of our newspapers makes its own decision about editorial cartoonists,"
he said, adding that Tribune Co. papers that don't have staff
cartoonists still run syndicated editorial cartoons -- many of
which come from the Tribune Co.-owned Tribune Media Services
syndicate.
(Note from Cagle: The number of cartoonists syndicated by
Tribune Media Services (TMS), the Tribune Company's syndicate,
has also been shrinking, notable cartoonists who have left TMS
include Steve Sack, Ann Telnaes and Dick Wright.)
Weitman continued: "The Tribune Co.
has a tremendous amount of respect for the editorial cartooning
profession and editorial cartoonists themselves."
On "Black Ink Monday," the AAEC's
EditorialCartoonists.com Web site posted 106 cartoons protesting
job cuts in the profession. A number of those cartoons also ran
in the print and Web editions of newspapers.
But Cagle noted that the more than 1,000
e-mails may have had a bigger impact. "It's much more effective
to have our fans complain than for editorial cartoonists to complain
about our situation," said the creator, who's with MSNBC.com
and the Cagle Cartoons syndicate. "I think editors don't
appreciate how huge the fan base for cartoons is."
Cagle, a former president of the National
Cartoonists Society, added that many editorial cartoon fans are
young people who newspapers want as readers.
Dave Astor (dastor@editorandpublisher.com)
is a senior editor at E&P.
DECEMBER 22, 2005
MUSLIMS OFFER A BOUNTY FOR THE MURDER
OF TWELVE DANISH CARTOONISTS ... AND THE UNITED NATIONS TAKES
UP THEIR CAUSE
Our friends at the Jyllands-Postens newspaper
in Denmark (who subscribe to my cartoons) have alerted us to
recent developments in a crazy confrontation about cartoons they
published and radical Muslims who have offered a reward for the
murder of the cartoonists.
Anders Raahauge of the Jyllands-Postens writes to us:
Last month, to test the limits of self-censorship,
we asked all Danish cartoonists to draw Muhammed. We were provoked
by the fact, that a Danish author of childrens books couldn't
find any illustrators for his planned, decidedly non-polemic
book on the prophet.
12 cartoonists dared.
There has now been a great uproar. 5000 Danish Muslims protested
in the streets of Copenhagen, 12 Muslim ambassadors demanded
that our Prime Minister should take immediate and harsh action
against Jyllands-Posten. Which he firmly declined to do.
The ambassadors then complained to the Organization of Muslim
Countries, there has been a general strike in Cashmir, and a
political party in Pakistan, with Danish affiliations, has put
a bounty on the heads of the 12 Danish cartoonists, 50.000 Danish
kroners for each execution.
The following column is reprinted with
permission from our friends at FrontpageMagazine.com
(who also subscribe to my cartoons.)
Thou Shalt Not Draw
By Robert Spencer
FrontPageMagazine.com
| December 21, 2005
Last September, Danish author Kåre
Bluitgen was set to publish a book on the Muslim prophet Muhammad,
but there was just one catch: he couldn't find an illustrator.
Artistic representations of the human form are forbidden in Islam,
and pictures of Muhammad are especially taboo - so three artists
turned down Bluitgen's offer to illustrate the book for fear
that they would pay with their lives for doing so. Frants Iver
Gundelach, president of the Danish Writers Union, decried this
as a threat to free speech - and the largest newspaper in Denmark,
Jyllands-Posten, responded. They approached forty artists
asking for depictions of Muhammad and received in response twelve
cartoons of the Prophet - several playing on the violence committed
by Muslims in the name of Islam around the world today.
Danish Imam Raed Hlayhel was the first
to react. "This type of democracy is worthless for Muslims,"
he fumed. "Muslims will never accept this kind of humiliation.
The article has insulted every Muslim in the world. We demand
an apology!" Jyllands-Posten refused. Editor-in-chief
Carsten Juste refused: "We live in a democracy. That's why
we can use all the journalistic methods we want to. Satire is
accepted in this country, and you can make caricatures. Religion
shouldn't set any barriers on that sort of expression. This doesn't
mean that we wish to insult any Muslims." Cultural editor
Flemming Rose concurred: "Religious feelings," he observed,
"cannot demand special treatment in a secular society. In
a democracy one must from time to time accept criticism or becoming
a laughingstock."
Certainly Christians have had to learn this lesson: in the United
Kingdom, the secretary of an organization called Christians Against
Ridicule complained in 2003 that "over the last seven days
alone we have witnessed the ridicule of the Nativity in a new
advert for Mr Kipling cakes, the ridicule of the Lord's Prayer
on Harry Hill's TV Burp, the ridicule of a proud Christian family
on ITV's Holiday Nightmare and the opening of a blasphemous play
at London's Old Vic Theatre - Stephen Berkoff's Messiah.Rarely
a day goes by today without underhand and insidious mockery of
the Christian faith." Christians Against Ridicule, however,
issued no death threats at that point or any other; some Muslims
in Denmark after the cartoons were published were not quite so
sanguine. Jyllands-Posten had to hire security guards
to protect its staff as threats came in by phone and email.
Muslim anger was not limited to threat-issuing thugs. In late
October ambassadors to Denmark from eleven Muslim countries asked
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen for a meeting about
what they called the "smear campaign" against Muslims
in the Danish press. Rasmussen declined: "This is a matter
of principle. I won't meet with them because it is so crystal
clear what principles Danish democracy is built upon that there
is no reason to do so." He added: "I will never accept
that respect for a religious stance leads to the curtailment
of criticism, humour and satire in the press." The matter,
he said, was beyond his authority: "As prime minister I
have no tool whatsoever to take actions against the media and
I don't want that kind of tool."
As far as one of the ambassadors, Egypt's,
was concerned, that was the wrong answer. Egyptian officials
withdrew from a dialogue they had been conducting with their
Danish counterparts about human rights and discrimination. Egyptian
Embassy Councillor Mohab Nasr Mostafa Mahdy added: "The
Egyptian ambassador in Denmark has said that the case no longer
rests with the embassy. It is now being treated at an international
level. As far as I have been informed by my government, the cartoon
case has already been placed on the agenda for the Islamic Conference
Organization's extraordinary summit in the beginning of December."
Meanwhile, in Denmark in early November thousands of Muslims
marched in demonstrations against the cartoons. Two of the cartoonists,
fearing for their lives, went into hiding. The Pakistani Jamaaat-e-Islami
party offered five thousand kroner to anyone who killed one of
the cartoonists. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC),
with a membership of 56 Muslim nations, protested to the Danish
government. Last week business establishments closed to protest
the cartoons - in Kashmir. The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir,
Ghulam Nabi Azad, was reportedly "anguished" by the
cartoons, and asked India's Prime Minister to complain to the
Danish government. And last Saturday the most respected authority
in the Sunni Muslim world, Mohammad Sayed Tantawi, Grand Sheikh
of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, declared that the cartoons had
"trespassed all limits of objective criticism into insults
and contempt of the religious beliefs of more than one billion
Muslims around the world, including thousands in Denmark. Al-Azhar
intends to protest these anti-Prophet cartoons with the UN's
concerned committees and human rights groups around the world."
The UN was happy to take the case. The UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Louise Arbour, wrote to the OIC: "I understand
your attitude to the images that appeared in the newspaper. I
find alarming any behaviors that disregard the beliefs of others.
This kind of thing is unacceptable." She announced that
investigations for racism and "Islamophobia" would
commence forthwith.
While solicitous of Muslim belief, Arbour did not seem concerned
about the beliefs of the Danes. Yet Jyllands-Posten had
well articulated its position as founded upon core principles
of the Western world: "We must quietly point out here that
the drawings illustrated an article on the self-censorship which
rules large parts of the Western world. Our right to say,
write, photograph and draw what we want to within the framework
of the law exists and must endure - unconditionally!" Juste
added: "If we apologize, we go against the freedom of speech
that generations before us have struggled to win."
That freedom is imperiled internationally more today than it
has been in recent memory. As it grows into an international
cause célèbre, the cartoon controversy indicates
the gulf between the Islamic world and the post-Christian West
in matters of freedom of speech and expression. And it may yet
turn out that as the West continues to pay homage to its idols
of tolerance, multiculturalism, and pluralism, it will give up
those hard-won freedoms voluntarily.
DECEMBER 21, 2005
YOUR COMMENTS ON MY "BROKEBACK
MOUNTAIN" CARTOON
 I posted a link
here to the Ft. Myers Florida News-Press readers comments
condemning my cartoon about Brokeback Mountain. A majority of
emails that I received in response were quite complimentary --thanks
to all of you for your kind words, and to those of you who had
more angry words for me, I've already forgotten all about it.
Here is a sampling from our mailbag.
Ha hahahaha,
I thought the cartoon was hilarious. I'm still laughing
as I write.
I think people take things too serious sometimes. It's a joke
folks, it's just a
joke.
Dan Williss,
Yerington, Nevada. Were men are men, (and the sheep are nervous
on Friday night).
Loved it!!!!
I have not seen Brokeback Ridge and it will not be in my Netflex
que.
I could care less about anyone's private lifestyle. What people
do in
private is there own business. But, assuming from your cartoon,
Brokeback
Ridge promotes a lifestyle that is not mainstream and difficult
in most areas of the country; despite Will and Grace.
So... way to go dude!
Best Regards, Bill Ladewig
Hello,
I'm not going to join the chorus of the irate, but I do feel
the cartoon was in bad taste.
I've had homosexual friends (I'm not one myself,) and know they
face a real uphill battle and some setbacks on many fronts, yet
aside from being homosexual, they're people just like you and
me. You also can't really choose whether you're going to be homosexual
or not, as the cartoon implies.
Have a Nice Day,
Sandra
Mr. Cagle,
Just wanted to write in to give you a voice of support for the
Brokeback Mountain strip. I had a good chuckle, which is a rare
thing for me when it comes to comics. It is very clever. You
should be proud.
Chi
It's hilarious. THanks for keeping a sense
of humor!
I love your emails. I don't even know how I got on the list but
I always enjoy it!
Nancy in San Diego
As a gay man I found it tasteless
and worry that it plays into the hands of the radical right.
William Mountry
I HAVE TO WONDER IF THE ONLY
PEOPLE WHO GET THEIR COMMENTS PUBLISHED IN THAT PAPER ARE
HOMOSEXUALS?
PETER KI
I think it's hilarious. Great cartoon!
Sally Rosoff
Sorry, I must go against the grain
... I liked the cartoon.
Joel Roskin
Wilton Manors, FL
Something is broke all right!
Where are our sense of values....?
There is no humor in sexual immorality.
Please reconsider your actions.
Linda Turner
Good Morning,~ No complaints about
the "Brokeback" cartoon from me. Honestly, in
my opinion, anyone genuinely afraid that their children might
be interested in someone of the same sex because they saw this,
or any other movie, deserves to have their son or daughter involved
in a homosexual relationship. LOL - Like it's a bad or unnatural
thing. - I hope all their kids are gay, and maybe even
transvestites. LOL - Heck maybe even the parents will get a little
wistful, remembering that guy or girl in high school......
And no, I'm not gay. I love my husband to bits. But we have dear
and wonderful gay friends. Like the bumpersticker says, "I'm
Straight, Not Narrow." - And frankly, I think it's
about time the gay community got a decent, romantic, tear-jerker
of their own. - Let the closed-minded squares bawl and squawl,
they always do. I have plenty of earplugs,- need a pair? LOL
~
Brightest Winter Blessings,~
~ Cindy J.
I think the cartoon makes
a perfect commentary on that movie and its possible effects
on our culture.
Ginger Edwards
Avon Lake, Ohio
I liked the cartoon. (boys playing
cowboy)
The bigots and Jesus freaks and republicans need to realize
that SOME of society is trying to get out of the Dark Ages!
Ben Richardson
I forwarded the cartoon to a gay
co-worker who loved it so much that he printed it out and everyone
in the office has commented on how funny it is. Not all of America
is narrow minded.
Pam A. Rymin
I know that this was to allow me to
join the chorus of complaints about the Brokeback Ridge cartoon,
but I don't have any complaints. I thought it was an brilliant
piece of commentary, and I found it really funny! I guess the
sense of humour index is really low down there in Florida. At
least some of us have a sense of humour, especially up here in
Canada.
I also want to say that I thought the expression on the Father's
face was priceless! Well drawn!
Regards,
Stephen MacDougall
You must remember that Florida
is a backward, religious, home state of illegals, Spanish is
the only language spoken and allowed, the state that is able
to call in the state and federal legislature to "help"
Terri Schiavo. cuts health benefits and access to medicines for
the seniors citizens. hurricanes victims from last year are still
without homes. of course the state cut a deal with the insurance
companies to reduce the payout to home owners. then again it
is the home state of Governor Jeb Bush.
now what did you expect?
Oh, by the way i am a card carrying republican, that does not
mean that i checked my brains at the voting booth door.
ms. s. freeman
I thought the cartoon was great!
Just imagine if the Old West had been more loving!
Katherine Conover
Maybe the people in Florida would
be happier if you showed the boys blowing the heads off of everyone
in Fort Myers with AK's. And just in case anyone wants to accuse
me of being gay, they'd be wrong, the thought of crawling into
bed with another male makes me cringe, I'm straight as an arrow
but if that is what makes them happy it's OK with me.
There is one thing however, that I would personally have no problem
with..........riding the world of a few crooked CEOs.
Cal
A very insensitive cartoon, vulgar and
derogartory of human behaviour...insulting to parental responsibilities
which, in that cartoon, assumes that the kids saw the picture..Dumb...Belongs
in a porno cartoon section of an internet incest site.
Frank Krasinski
Westlake, Ohio
I wholly approve of the freedom
of expression that cartoonists exhibit, and the function they
serve in the dialogue about national and global issues.
However, this cartoon is way over the top, going just for shock
value and, as far as I can tell, very little else. The image
is simply repulsive at a visceral level, for no good reason.
At least, try a little harder to make a substantive point if
you're going to have any publication print this horror. I'm not
an unintelligent fellow. I can take a lesson from a cartoon with
just a little more guidance.
Put another way: What the hell kind of point were you trying
to make with this??
James K.
No complaints on your "Brokeback
Mountain" cartoon here. It was HILARIOUS! Keep up the good
work. J
Leah Briggs
Hi ; I found your cartoon
all too true, as it were. Now, how about a darling little
program advocating voluntary sterilization for "married"
homosexuals? They can't have offspring anyway and it may even
help the AIDS problem, discount coupons would, of course be offered
as an incentive, fine everyday merchandise like KY jelly, lace
hankies, and "butch" booties.......Keep up the good
work, pilgrim. Yrs. BobO'Links
Complain?? That
was hysterical! Disturbing - yes, but also darned funny!
Len Errera
Hartford, CT
As I'm certain you've heard, the cartoon
that ran about Brokeback Mountain is done in very poor taste.
As important as controversy is in our society, we have many other
important issues to debate over and don't need more negativity
pushed toward homosexuality. The very thought that two young
boys even sat through that R rated film makes me wonder about
the parents, and not the children. Why not take a stab at the
child rearing skills of parents? That cartoon should have been
captioned "Two more children likely to become a statistic,
just because you and I are lazy."
I hope your future cartoons tackle more important issues, than
to degrade two people who (fictitiously here) find love. Not
a fan.
Kate Conery
Apparently Floridians are a humorless
bunch who can't take a joke. I hope the majority of the
rest of the country took it for satire that it is. Keep up he
good work.
RTG
HELLO THERE I DISAGREE WITH WHAT SOME OF THE
LETTERS SAY ABOUT YOUR COMIC BEING HOMOPHOBIC. I FEEL IT IS ABOUT
INATTENTIVE OVERINDULGENT, PARENTING AND THE FACT THAT MOST PARENTS
LET THEIR KIDS SO WHAT THEY WANT WHEN THEY WANT OUT OF LAZZIENESS.
I I AM NOT THRILLED ABOUT SEEING TWO YOUNG BOYS GIVING EACH OTHER
SLOPPY KISSES, BUT AS A PARENT OF A 14 YEAR OLD BOY AND A 6 YEAR
OLD GIRL HAVE SEEN MUCH WORSE ON SCHOOL CAMPUSES. I HAVE BEEN
ACCUSED OF BEING TO STRICT AND NOT TRUSTING OF MY SON FOR NOT
LETTING HIS GIRLFRIEND AND HIM HAVE SLEEPOVERS TOGETHER. LUCKILY
IT IS NOT MY SON ACCUSING ME OF IT BUT BY OTHER PARENTS. I TRUST
MY SON BUT REFUSE TO DANGLE A CARROT IN FRONT OF HIS NOSE SO
TO SPEAK, AND WILL NEVER SEE THAT AS APPROPRIATE FOR 14 YEAR
OLDS TO DO. I THINK YOU SHOULD DRAW MORE COMICS AIMED AT THE
LAZY, POLITICALLY CORRECT, WANT TO BE COOL AND THEIR KIDS BEST
FRIEND PARENTS OUT THERE. AS A COUNTRY WE HAVE GOTTEN WAY TO
LOSE ON THE MORALS WE INSTILL IN OUR CHILDREN AND MOST PEOPLE
DON'T WANT THAT POINTED OUT.
2 THE CARTOON WAS AIMED AT SOMETHING DIFFERENT
AND I INTERPRETED IT WRONG, STILL NOT THRILLED ABOUT THE BOYS
KISSING BUT THAT IS THE PRUDISH, OUTDATED, NON POLITICALLY CORRECT
MOM MORALS I HAVE. BUT I WOULD NOT BE LETTING MY KIDS SEE THAT
CARTOON ANYHOW YES I AM A MOM CENSOR ALSO.
PROUDLY
BORING MOM
J
W M IN PHOENIX AZ.
Let's get real......
It could just as easily been two priests, two ministers,
two teachers, two scoutmasters, two kid's coaches...or
even 2 senators or congressmen or policemen or firemen or.......!
It has happened....it is happening & it will happen.....even
in the conservative midwest!
Is this any worse than the litany of shepherd/sheep "bonding"
jokes...or the Greek, Polish or even Okie versions
that seem quite common after all these years?
WEM
No complaint - - - - unfortunately
your cartoon is right on. I refuse to even stay in the room when
a commercial for that movie comes on the TV. Obviously, I will
not go to see the movie. No, I'm not into gay bashing, and my
mind is not so closed that it's nailed shut. I just don't like
having this stuff shoved in my face. Tolerance is not acceptance.
Thank you for listening. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to
you and your family. Keep up the great work you are doing.
Regards,
Louise Boyd
I liked it!
Larry Marshall
I laughed my butt off at the cartoon.
Keep up the good work.
Lydia Cummings
Sorry this is in as bad taste. If
it were other minorities, the Nazi Storm troopers would be after
you.
Loyal reader,
Don mottl
DECEMBER 15, 2005
YEAR VIEW MIRROR
The Year in Rhyme by Scott Emmons
My buddy, Hallmark cartoonist, Revilo (aka Oliver Christianson)
sent me this nifty year-in-review poem by Hallmark poet, Scott
Emmons. Visit Scott's Word
Chowder site. E-mail
Scott.
Great heavens alive! The year Two Thousand Five
Was a whirlwind that left us light-headed!
As everyone knows, we have more highs and lows
Than the see-sawing price of unleaded!
What with Middle East tensions and problems
with pensions,
The year was a white knuckle ride,
The dollar was weak as Rob Schneider's physique,
And on top of it, Gilligan died!
There were Charles and Camilla, King Kong
the gorilla,
"Fat Actress" on prime-time TV,
In Washington, Murtha went off like Big Bertha,
And Deep Throat announced, "It was me!"
In Hollywood News, lovey-dovey Tom Cruise
Was amusing, though some thought him hokey.
Jen Aniston split with her hubby Brad Pitt,
And Martha got out of the pokey.
There was gossip galore! Demi Moore made
a score
When she married young Ashton, who'd wowed her.
Though judged to be weird, Michael Jackson was cleared,
But of-course his career took a powder.
There was quite a to-do over politics too,
With discussions impassioned and blistery.
The Right thought Alito was perfectly neato,
And Harriet Miers was history!
When DeLay was indicted, the Left was delighted
(Though neither side showed much maturity).
Fierce battles were waged as the arguments raged
Over salvaging Social Security.
A few were arrested when Sheehan protested,
Iraq got a new constitution,
And tempers ran high as a dinosaur's eye
When the school boards addressed evolution.
The man of renown, Alan Greenspan, stepped
down,
And the Fed got a guy named Bernanke,
While a fellow named Scooter, who seemed a straight-shooter,
Faced charges of high hanky-panky.
Beyond the U.S. there was plenty of stress,
The U.N. was a mess, it was reckoned.
They were trying Hussein, and we all felt the pain
At the passing of John Paul the Second.
And then came the swarms of calamitous
storms
With a fury that nothing could tame.
There followed much grumbling, as FEMA was fumbling
And "blame" was the name of the game!
There's just no denying the year has been
trying
(My gosh, what a hullabaloo!)
From the runaway bride who so brazenly lied
To the threat of the avian flu!
But through as a nation we've had some
frustration,
We're far from the end of our rope.
In the month of December it helps to remember
The New Year's a symbol of hope.
As we close out the year with a measure
of cheer
And some courage thrown into the mix,
Let our hopes never cease for an era of peace
And a happier 2006!
© Hallmark Cards, Inc., posted with permission.
DECEMBER 14, 2005
I added some new comments here.
Thanks again to everyone who wrote to the Tribune Company!
DECEMBER 13, 2005
TULSA
This unusual notice was posted with the National Cartoonists
Society ...
EDITORIAL CARTOONIST OPPORTUNITY
Unlike many newspapers, the Tulsa World is seeking a cartoonist.
We Believe the venerable political cartoon is, and should continue
to be, one of the most visible and popular parts of the newspaper.
We have been advised to hire a cartoonist with the same careful
consideration that we would use in selecting a new dog. Not that
cartoonists are dogs, but both situations require mutual like
and respect and long commitment.
Our requirements are simple: Our new cartoonist has to be a great
caricaturist; be up to the minute on news developments locally
and nationally and produce a funny cartoon at least five times
a week, or at the drop of a hat. Now, that's won't be too hard,
will it? If you believe you measure up and will work for something
less than an arm and a leg (and maybe an occasional bone), let
us hear from you. We promise great working conditions, colleagues
who like to laugh and enjoy their work, and a lot of ideas, most
of which you can feel free to reject. The Tulsa World is one
of an elite few of daily newspapers that remain family owned.
If you are interested in this opportunity or need the skinny
on the details of the job, please feel free to contact Laura
McIntosh, SPHR in Human Resources at laura.mcintosh@tulsaworld.com
OR please send resume, samples of work and salary requirement
to:
CARTOONIST, Human Resources
Tulsa World
315 S. Boulder Avenue
Tulsa, OK 74012.
OR by fax to (918) 584-8966. M/V EOE
Laura McIntosh, SPHR Human Resources Tulsa World
BLACK INK MONDAY FOLLOW-UP
Here is a selection of the e-mails our readers sent to
the Tribune Company, protesting cartoonist job cuts. One nice
thing about this protest is that the Tulsa World newspaper responded
to say that they are looking to hire an editorial cartoonist
(Tulsa recently fired their cartoonist, David Simpson, because
of plagiarism, read
about it here.)
Thanks to everyone who responded! If you still want to send an
e-mail of protest to the Tribune Company, write to the Tribune
Company's Gary
Weitman, VP of Communications, to tell him that political
cartoons are important to you, and you don't like the Tribune
Company's cartoonist cutbacks. Click here to see the "Black Ink Monday"
cartoons. Here are some of your e-mails:
Dear Gary,
Thank you for getting rid of those annoying editorial cartoonists.
They gave your papers an annoyingly insightful intelligence that
doesn't fit well with your organization's current business practices!
Sincerely,
Bruce M Seymour
Lake Oswego, Oregon
To put it simply, I
am a teacher who uses political cartoons in high school and college
classes. But not yours?
Paul Ogles
The only levity in the political
arena, and some anal-retentive dip wants to eliminate them? Bad
move! Those that can't take a joke shouldn't BE one!
P.S. CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION!!
Sam Spriggs
I canceled my subscription to
the Los Angeles Times because the Tribune Company fired Robert
Scheer, but I am no less outraged by the firing of Michael Ramirez.
Just because I didn't agree with him politically doesn't mean
I couldn't appreciate his opinions or the sharpness of his wit.
I remember well when the Times was a not just a good newspaper,
but a great newspaper. Alas, it has not been that way in years,
and given the present trend of dollars over distinction, I see
no hope for its future.
The loss of not just Michael Ramirez, but also the firing of
the Baltimore cartoonist, brings a shudder to the heart of a
60s civil rights activist.
I hope (but don't believe for a minute) that Black Ink Monday
at least made you pause to think.
C.M. Cady
North Hollywood, CA
Dear Mr. Weitman,
I grew up with parents that were in the newspaper business. My
dad was a circulation manager for the local paper in Yakima,
Washington, then we moved to the California Bay Area where he
worked for the Hayward Daily Review.
Mom was a writer who wrote information pieces for several newspapers.
We were a family who read and shared the newspaper every Sunday
morning and always subscribed to at least two of them. My husband
and I have continued with the tradition, although we only subscribe
to one newspaper at a time.
We believe that this country is great because of the free press,
but it is becoming an endangered species. Without the political
cartoonists, we might as well give up and watch Fox News - or
get our news from the internet.
Don't bend to corporate greed or political pressure. We need
the fresh perspective that the political cartoonists give to
the news of the day. Be brave, go against the tide and it just
might by-the-way lead to higher profits.
Best regards,
Suzanne Pershing
The political cartoon is a valuable
teaching aid to the masses. The clever and witty cartoonist quickly
reveals insights to issues that writers take paragraphs to bungle.
Those cartoons are a treat to your readers and to dismiss the
cartoonist will only hasten the demise of a declining newspaper.
Ernest Kerr
We appreciate and enjoy the works of cartoonists. Cutting their
positions will only result in less readership.
Rosemarie Peterson
Dear Mr. Weitman,
I find it incredible that your company's excellent and
influential papers cannot afford to employ a single in-house
editorial cartoonist.
As a longtime observer of the news business, a longtime investor
in Tribune stock (not for much longer, perhaps) and a believer
in the value of the editorial cartoon, I am unable to see any
sense in the recent sackings of Ramirez from the LA Times and
Kal from the Baltimore Sun. Does it enhance your papers' prestige?
Does it make them better than they were? Does it REALLY help
the bottom line?
If ever a policy deserved the epithet Penny Wise & Pound
Foolish it is this one. I urge you to reconsider it.
Harley Cahen
Hyattsville, MD
You kill off the editorial
cartoons and you wonder why I'm no longer a subscriber?
You dumb down the paper and you wonder why I'm no longer a subscriber?
You've let it die a death of a thousand cuts and you wonder why
I'm no longer a subscriber?
Most Sincerely,
Paul Courry
Let's seeeee - it's a well known fact
that most men ages 18 to 26 now get their news from "The
Daily Show".
A more gifted and forward thinking VP of Communications would
probably ADD MORE CARTOONS. Too bad.
Judy Burris
Mr. Weitman,
The more visual your readers become, the more apparent it becomes
that Tribune Company's actions are horribly shortsighted. Too
bad you can't see what your readers already know!
Chris just another soon-to-be former subscriber in L.A.
California USA
Politcal cartoons are vital in telling
the one thing a newspaper often obfuscates: the truth. You are
another bonehead using your skull to nail the coffin of a truly
free press. Corporate greed and stupidity will be the masthead
of this period in history and your name will be on it.
Paul Laccavole
Another young reader
Eliminating staff editorial cartoonists is a remarkably short-sighted
idea.
.But, more seriously: Like a lot of young people, I initially
became a newspaper reader because of cartoons; I would never
have started reading the editorial page (which is now my favorite
section) if it had not been for them.
Please reconsider.
Paul Carpenter
North Hills, California
. Do you really think your
readers are soooo enthralled with EVERY article in your paper
that the editorial cartoons are the expendable optional contributions?
If you do, you're nuts.
A concerned and irritated reader.
Jennifer Bliss
Here in the United Kingdom, I get
a selection of the cartoons which appear in your newspapers every
day, courtesy of Cagle (www.cagle.com) on the internet. I, along
with many millions of others around the world, find it invaluable
for keeping in touch with what's happening in your neck of the
woods and appeal for you to nurture these brilliant individuals.
You just don't know how lucky you are to have them, when you
need all the help you can get.
Sincerely, Peter Moore
Please do not remove my
only means of understanding and accepting the ridiculous world
situations. Keep your brilliant cartoonists. They're much easier
to absorb than the dry text.
Linda
To Gary Wietman;
Were you born stupid, or do you just practice constantly?
The editorial cartoons are worth more, on any given day, than
any six editorial essays you publish. Get your head out of your
pocket-book and spend some money on courage.
d.g.biggs
It takes talent of art and intellect
to take the written word and create a cartoon that will make
the public want to know more about a topic and form their own
opinions. It takes absolute lunacy to destroy a readership by
firing cartoonists.
Sincerely,
Redd Matheson
It's a BIG mistake to cut
editorial cartoonists. End of story.
Faith Pincus
Gary Weitman, VP of Communications:
Monday December 12 was "Black Ink Monday," the Association
of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) visual protest to recent
editorial cartoonist job losses. Perhaps the worst culprit
in hastening the death of the industry has been your company,
whose flagship papers (the Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune
and the Baltimore Sun) now have no staff cartoonists.
This is ironic because the editorial cartoon continues to be
one of the most popular features in a newspaper. Editorial
cartoons are important to me and I do not appreciate the Tribune
Company's cartoonist cutbacks.
I echo the sentiments of AAEC president, Clay Bennett, who writes:
"Since Ben Franklin and colonial times, the editorial cartoon
has been one of the most visible and popular parts of the daily
paper. However, recent changes within the newspaper industry
have placed this American institution at risk."
Justin Farrell
Thank you for giving me another
reason not to buy your paper. I'm sure many more horrible
decisions will follow down this Friedman-esqe road you travel.
"Let all the evils that lurk in the
mud hatch out" Robert Graves
B. P. Lunde
Hey Mr. Weitman...ever
heard that a picture paints a thousand words? That would save
you more space for advertising. If you guys that run things continue
in this vein, you'll wind up in the mismanagement hall of fame
with the GM managerial crowd. I'm thinking they probably aren't
the most fun guys in the world to hang with.
Merry Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Winter Solstice,
or just plain December...
Shawn Ford
Political cartoonists tell the story
that no one else can. The satire they use is more poignant, more
thought-provoking, more socially enlightening than all the printed
words combined in any newspaper edition. They tell it like it
is. I cannot say the same for the Editor, the newspaper owner,
the influential politician, or the mainstream journalist.
I have cancelled my newspaper subscription because of poor journalism,
poor and inaccurate reporting, and a lack of real home-town news
that I care about. Bad news sells papers, advertising pays the
freight, but the political cartoonist is the only true reporting
we see anymore.
Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
Jerald Thompson
As pictures
challenge the status of text in our culture, political cartoons
are important as never before. It is disgraceful for a
newspaper to dismiss its cartoonists.
Mark Larrimore
Dear Mr. Weitman,
I cannot stress how important it is that you not cut off the
cartoonists. Often times I find myself counting solely on the
political cartoons as my sole source of news because I am either
too busy or too lazy to pick up a newspaper or a newsmagazine.
Even when I do finally read through my TIME magazines,
it seems that the cartoons provoke more thought than reading
articles upon articles ever do. It is the concise manner in which
the cartoons are presented that gives them power that articles
lack. Losing the cartoonists will mean losing this power.
Jannie Wu
Illinois
I read the Hartford Courant (subscribe
at office end use email) and the Chicago Tribune daily.
It is very disappointing to learn of the cutbacks, whether editorial
cartoons (which often summarize a news story at a glance) or
the writing staff. Michelle Jacklin, for example, at the Courant,
was insightful and courageous. It may be more bad judgment on
the part of the Tribune (the legendary Colonel would disapprove)
which I know of in some important reporting.
Sincerely,
Ed Marth
Abonné au « Monde »
en France, je trouve que le dessin de Plantu, que je lis tous
les jours en premier, vaut tous les éditoriaux.
Comment imaginer une première page sans dessin ?
Lamentable
Cordialement
Pierre
Mr. Weitman,
I can't believe that it has gotten to this point. Editorial cartoons
are the heart of the paper. Not only are they something to laugh
at or to have a strong opinion about, but visually they are a
nice break away from all the text covering the pages.
Please rethink your decision in getting rid of the cartoonists.
They're a dying breed. SAVE THE ARTISTS!
Sincerely,
Vin Paneccasio
Perhaps, instead, you could have
sold some of those Picasso drawings in the LA Times' conference
rooms?
Vincent Amato
Dear Tribune Company,
I thank you from the very bottom of my heart for firing your
editorial cartoonists. Now, less people will buy your otherwise
useless papers, leading you to manufacture fewer copies and help
save the rainforest.
As a journalism student, I understand the importance of the written
word. I also understand that one small cartoon can convey
more information than five 20,000 word stories and is far
more interesting and reaches a larger audience. So thank you
for helping kill the newspaper industry.
I am looking forward to changing my major to accounting.
-GTL
To Gary Weitman, VP of Communications:
I see no problem with eliminating the cartoonists and all
other editorial staff as well. Print the canned "NEWS"
from government and other businesses and sell advertising. You
can achieve some status as the country's largest
"SHOPPER."
JIM ROWE
Amusing Little Tale
There once was a cheap newspaper management group, who thought
it would be best to fire their editorial cartoonist. Just think
of all the money they would save! Soon there was a huge uproar
by a group of Americans who have a huge following, and are read
by more people than most newspapers or news websites. This group
of Americans publicized this injustice, just as they publish
about injustices wherever they find them. Many times this group
has brought something important to the attention of many more
American's than any newspaper ever has. Hmmm. This is not a group
to anger. Who is this well-read group? The editorial cartoonists
of America. Wow. Haven't you ever heard the old saw, "Pick
a fight with someone your own size?!"
Janice La Mere
Sir, with respect...ARE YOU NUTS?? Cartoonists have traditionally
been a focal point of the Editorial page. Shove that pointy pencil
where the sun don't shine and reinstate the cartoonist!
Grant
14 year old reader here
I realize you've probably gotten a ton of e-mails and letters
considering the wrongful firing of the Tribunes editorial cartoonists,
and here's another...All good things come to an end, the era
of the Greeks, the integrity of the Television Industry, Christmas
time, and the purchase of the Tribune's papers...I'm 14 so most
would think that a teenager wouldn't give a damn if some editorial
cartoonists lose their jobs but I guess those people would be
wrong, I do give a damn, and you want to know why? Well regardless
I'm going to tell you, its because I believe in the right to
an opinion, and that ultimately is (In my opinion) the point
of E.C.'s. They allow us to laugh at the present state of affairs
in the world, but at the same time inform us about current issues.
They also make it easier to open the debate on these issues and
get people talking about what's going on in the world. For those
to lazy to actually read the articles in a paper, or for those
of us that just don't have the time, E.C. are all we get from
papers. If you lay off the editorial cartoonists, you lay waste
to a valuable right; the right to be heard and to express
your opinion, after all the media can't control everything, right?
RIGHT? RIGHT?? The people have a right to see all sides of the
argument, not just the facts! GIVE US CARTOONS OR GIVE US DEATH!!!
FREE EXPRESSION IS THE BEST!!!
Keiffer Newman, the only 14 year old you're going to hear from,
I guarantee it...
Dear Sir,
It has recently been brought to my attention that the Tribune
Company has ousted the staff cartoonists on such papers as the
Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. I find such a development
do be most disturbing, in great part due to the popularity of
the editorial cartoon among younger readers. Being myself only
19 I can personally attest to the fact that the editorial cartoon
is often one of the few parts my friends look at in any paper,
and it is the first thing I look for upon picking up a paper.
The benefit of editorial cartoons to America's youth is that
it is presented in a format that we are familiar with, it
draws us in the same way a clever headline does. A
good editorial cartoon conveys all that a written editorial does,
but it only takes a few moments to absorb. Editorial cartoons
get people talking, all kinds of people. They raise important
issues and provide a prompt for invaluable discussions amongst
families. I have on many an occasion had teachers that used editorial
cartoons to teach current events and initiate class discussions;
and in my experience this is often the most effective teaching
method. In killing the editorial cartoon you not only make a
grave mistake in regards to your relations with your readers,
but you do a vast disservice to the American public. It is my
hope that you will consider some of what I have said, and bring
back your staff cartoonists.
Tara Graves
Dear Sir:
Since I live in Canada, I can hardly call myself a client of
your papers.
None-the-less, there is some slight history to your firm, which
I have heard of. This makes your recent decision to do without
a cartoonist, all that much sadder.
I have no idea how much it costs to hire an editorial cartoonist.
I do know that the job entails good artistic talents, a good
wit, a vivid imagination, and an eye on the news. I would be
curious to find out roughly what the cost of such a person is.
At the same time, I can only hope that some market research would
have been done to find out what the "return value"
of such a position is, before disposing of the position...
I can tell you this: Even up here, in a small town like Sudbury,
our two newspapers can afford editorial cartoons. I am surprised
you would have trouble affording one... in the type of markets
you have access to...
I can tell you one other thing: There are 5 parts to a newspaper
that I always "read", if nothing else: 1) Editorial,
2) Editorial Cartoon, 3) Letters to the Editor, 4) The Funnies
Page. Anything else, will be looked at only according to it's
"interest level". And, I rarely look at the sports
section at all. In fact, the only thing I read there, is a column
by an "outdoor writer" called Gary Ball. And the only
reason I read him, is that he is a good writer, and usually writes
an omni-interesting piece.
When he writes, I understand him.
I really would advise and encourage you to reconsider your position
on the matter. I can recall MANY a textbook on many topics (eg:
Math, Economics, Computer Science, History, Social Science),
where the occasional appropriate cartoon did much to lighten
up my spirits, and keep my slogging on through some nasty quite
dry material....
You know, I should think the same phenomenon applies to a newspaper.
In fact, since pictures have been used both instead of, and in
conjunction to text, since the dawn of time, I would advise you
to add MORE small, relevant cartoons to your publications. Why?
For the same reason that you have photos. They add eyeball appeal.
And eyeball appeal adds sales.
Thank you for your time and attention in this matter.
Thank you. Sincerely,
Pierre M. Laberge,
SUDBURY, Ont. Canada
GIVE US MORE CARTOONS.
RONALD PEMBERTON
Gary Weitman,
I'm a newspaper reader.
I don't read everything -- usually some of the main stories,
something more obscure that catches my eye, and a favorite columnist
or three.
It varies from day to day.
But I always read the editorial cartoons. Especially the local
ones. Always.
I suspect that you have information confirming that editorial
cartoons get tremendous readership. Cartoons about local events
confirm that the paper is my local paper.
Cutting local editorial cartoons seems, . . . what's the phrase
I'm looking for . . . well, that wouldn't be polite, so how about
. . .
dopey stupid.
You might rationally consider changing your mind.
Paul
I am amazed that the expert business people
who run America's newspapers fail to understand how much the
their comic strips and editorial cartoons seperate and differenciate
newspapers from tv and radio news. How do these geniuses take
advantage of this unique and promotable asset ? They reduce the
size of the comic strips and fire the editorial cartoonists.
Do you expect your business to grow and thrive in the face of
these counterproductive decisions ? Sure, you've
saved enough money by these actions to insure an increase in
this year's bonus but you had better invest it wisely so
you will have something left when your readership bottoms out
and your newspapers shut down.
Parnell Nelson
Cartoonists Cutbacks
= Shrinking Sales. Not only as a young and avid reader, but also
as a technologically savvy consumer in today's society I can
tell you from first hand experience that the newspaper industry
as a whole is losing ground to younger, more innovative mediums
across America.
The old "black and whites" (for the most part) no longer
appeal to the younger generations. In an apparent effort to expedite
this killing process, you have chosen to no longer support the
editorial cartoonist. With that said, I choose to no longer support
you and your papers.
As you continue to remove fan favorites from your paper, keep
in mind that you continue to remove fans as well.
Thank You,
J. Benjamin McLain
Cut
the political cartoonist, I stop reading your paper.
Fair?
Rick Sliwkanich
A picture has been said to be worth a thousand
words, and your choice to cut the editorial cartoonist positions
has just reduced the quality and content of your newspapers.
Is it any wonder more and more readers are tuning away
from reading newspapers and finding other sources of news coverage?
You have been reducing that which gives value to your product.
It's a sad legacy for a media that shaped our nation and our
national policy.
Sad regards,
Nora Alexander
Spare the Editorial Cartoonists.
I would respectfully suggest that you cut some of the nin-com-poops
from the editorial staff. Their work takes up more space and
communicates less information.
Sincerely,
Cynthia L. Frear
Warning: The opposite of free
speech is not repression. It is no speech at all.
No one on the editorial page at all except lackeys. No opinions.
No fresh air or new ideas. No dissension. No sharp edged satire.
Ed Swarbrick
Your short sighted, fiscal decision to cut editorial cartoonists
is just one more reason I don't need your product anymore.
MDK
Mr. Weltman-
I am a Los Angeles Times subscriber. I can assure you that I
will not bore you with a history lesson on newspapers nor bloviate
on the merits of editorial cartooning. I would rather remind
you of just one simple fact. Gifted individuals whose talents
are in writing or drawing must have an outlet that makes their
contributions to a free society available to everyone. The raw
ability of creative free expression is supposed to draw attention,
initiate debate, and arouse curiosity. This modern American life
is filled with pre-packaged, thoughtless messages geared to sedate a
vast audience.
I find this contrary to the purpose of journalism itself. True
journalism reminds us of the vigilance we all share to support
and improve the common good. Opinion based on fact is just
one view of a big picture, and the more views that are offered,
the picture becomes clearer; not necessarily to accept, but to
understand. Emotions like laughter or anger cannot replace
reason, but it sparks our conscience and dedicates ideas to memory.
The editorial cartoon plays such a large part of this phenomenon.
Please reconsider the Tribunes Company's position regarding the
reduction of staff editorial cartoonists.
R. Pena
Fountain Valley, California
Please keep the cartoonist.......that where I get my News!!!!!!!
Beatrice Savage
How could you remove or reduce
one of the most interesting parts of reading the paper? As
a reader of Newsday I protest the reductions that you have made
to your other papers.
Bill Nissensohn
Sir;
Your company is like all of the others larger companies, looking
for a way to make money and not realizing that you are cutting
something important in the fabric of Americana. I am in my 30s
and I am growing tired of a few things in society, namely the
corporate big cats looking out for themselves and not realizing
the damage they are causing to society, in this case the dumbing
of America and anything to do with political correctness, most
recently the non display of Christmas. Sometimes things are what
they are and the majority is supposed to rule in this country.
I'm just another of a number of fed up Americans who looks at
the majority of the press as a joke. The cutting of cartoonist
jobs is another case in point. Thanks for taking away yet another
important part of our culture, as if you care!!
V/R
Ron Drummond II
Thank you for cutting back on political
cartoons! They used to be the only reason i bought your paper,
but now that you don't have them i can still access them online
for free. You just saved me the cost of buying your paper every
day.
Sincerely,
Lisa Lake
At the cost of sounding shrill, I must protest your insane
move to cut cartoonists from your staffs. Editorial cartoons
are the most enjoyable and integral part of a newspaper's op-ed
page.
I certainly hope your readership responds in kind.
T Nespolon
I object to your cutting of political
cartoonists at your papers. I view it not as a cost cutting measure,
but rather as an attempt at censorship. I will never read one
or your papers again and have already cut my subscription to
the Baltimore Sun.
Colin A. Barthel
McLean, VA
I guess it is time to start reading the Washington
Post daily. First the Sun (Baltimore) tries to copy the format
of USA Today, now KAL is gone.
Glen Allen Cheek,Jr.
Dundalk, MD
As a Rutgers University Professor of
English Literature, in the courses on satire which I teach we
often have to conclude---faced with the work of Hogarth, Goya,
Nast, Herblock, and so many contemporary whizzes---that a picture
is so often worth a thousand words. Any newspaper's editorial
page expecting to give its readers a wake-up call should
never economize on the assets shared by skilled, insightful cartoonists.
With best wishes, Dr. Richard Quaintance, Metuchen, New Jersey
Bring
back your editorial cartoonists! What are you thinking? Are all
newspapers now going to be "politically correct" rather
than igniting thought through some controversy? You should be
ashamed of yourself! Bad decision and extremely bad judgment.
The American public isn't all as stupid as it might (often) seem.
We can handle political cartoons-they may even cause some folks
to become aware of and think about issues that might otherwise
have escaped their notice.
Susan Kinsella
You newspaper genius types need
to stop pretending you want to KEEP young readers. Here's a young
L.A. couple who are NOT renewing our subscription to the L.A.
Times. In fact, we went out and bought The L.A. Daily News today
and will support them, their cartoonist O'Connor and their
advertisers NOT yours.
You don't care about content anymore than you care about your
readers. Political cartoons don't just break-up a sea of gray,
they are essential.
Your company's short-sighted thinking is amazing. You truly are
part of a sinking ship of fools. Bail now.
C. Logan
California
As a subscriber to the Los Angeles Times
I feel strongly that there should continue to be a cartoon reflecting
and expanding what is on your editorial page. Words alone can't
succinctly tell the story about current affairs as can a to the
point cartoon. I hope that the policy of reducing and eliminating
editorial cartoons will be rescinded.
Sincerely, Peter J. Maimone
Sir,
You and your corporate beancounters are disgusting. I am at a
loss for words to describe what a disgrace to journalism in general
and to the long tradition of the Chicago Tribune in particular
you are for eliminating editorial cartoonists in your major newspapers.
Look Ma, No Cartoonists!
I'm tempted to use a catch-phrase like "Colonel McCormick
would be turning over in his grave if he knew what you were doing."
However, I'm certain that if Colonel McCormick could come back,
he would throw your sorry butt out the nearest window at the
Tribune Tower.
If you do not change this policy, I will have no choice but to
cancel my subscription to the Tribune in protest.
That would be just the start. We might follow with informational
picketing in front of selected key advertisers, demanding they
pulll their ads or face a boycott. I'm sure that will make their
day.
I'll let you speculate as to what could be done next to put the
screws to Tribune Corp.
RANDALL SHERMAN
Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government
You
did what?!?
Osher Bachrach
You are making one gigantic mistake....editorial
cartoons are the life of the paper.
Frank Gerrietts
Dear Mr Weitman,
I think that you are making a huge mistake in eliminating the
political cartoons in your newspaper. You know as well as
I do that a lot of important social changes and subsequent legislation have
happened because some cartoonist brought that
particular social problem out in the open for everyone to look
at..
Do you realize that when you kill the cartoonists you give people
like Rumsfeld, Rove, Cheney, and Bush whom
I think mean well, more power to do harm
to this country and the American people?
I've always thought that The Los Angeles Times was a progressive
newspaper and one of the better ones. I guess I was wrong.
Sincerely,
P.R Moralls
Dear Mr. Weitman,
Political and editorial cartoons are a mainstay of our news society.
I hear the people of my parents' and grandparents' generations
lamenting the fact that "today's youth" don't want
to read the newspaper and are suffering intellectually for it.
Your recent decision to dismiss summarily staff editorial cartoonists
from your papers only adds fuel to that growing fire. A dry column
making statements about and highlighting political and social
issues has no draw for the average American youth, nor the average
American adult, to be perfectly honest. But, put that same statement
in or highlight that same issue via an editorial cartoon, and
you have drawn in your audience (please pardon the pun). The
very fact that so many cartoons spark extreme controversy should
tell you what I already know an editorial cartoon reaches
a broader audience than a political or editorial column could
ever hope to reach. Moreover, a column merely dictates a position;
an editorial cartoon invites the viewer to interpret, to think,
to place their own values on the table. It invites discourse
among those with differing interpretations and values. It requires
the reader to be vulnerable to their own first impressions. I
don't usually feel so strongly about these sorts of issues
this is the first time that I have written a "letter to
the editor," if you will. However, this is a grave loss
of an entire genre of news and politics. I urge you to reconsider
your decision to eliminate the staff positions at your Tribune
papers.
Sincerely,
Renée L. Hildreth, Esq
Hartford CT
Mr. Weitman,
It is a disheartening sign of the times when powerful newspapers
disregard one of the basic features of a free press: the editorial
cartoon. Not everyone who buys a newspaper wants to wade through
pages and pages of biased journalism, when a single cartoon can
show either side of a story. It is a calling card of this "politically-correct,
litigious and timid society" that free speech, or free-art
rather, is sacrificed... for what? A few extra dollars? A mollified
common denominator?
I'm curious as to how a paper would succeed if the opposite were
true if we cut the most of the written stories and just featured
editorial cartoons? Oh wait like Cagle's e-newsletter which
I read daily.
Tracy Threlfall
I will miss KAL our Baltimore Sun
cartoonist! If there's anything you can
do to bring him back -- it would be most appreciated!!!!!!
Thanks a million,
David B Smith
Baltimore, MD
You have finally managed to let the
censors and bean counters of this era of greed and pocket padding
win out over the minds and hearts of your readership. I will
get my news from the internet now because I don't trust a newspaper
that doesn't have a political cartoonist on staff. As my mother
used to say, you have cut off your own nose just to spite your
face.
What will you do now to turn a buck? Lay off your reporters and
contract your news from underpaid reporters in India?
Trisha Mason
What are you afraid of? Cartoons are
the best part of your publications, why get rid of them? Until
you reinstate them, I will not buy your papers, and then, see
how much money you save!
Peggy Logan
I can't believe that you have actually
taken away one of the best, most thought-provoking, and interesting
features of your newspapers!
You surely must not be listening to your readers! We LOVE the
editorial cartoons! In a few words they convey more information
than many so-called columnists.
Put the editorial cartoonists back at their desks.
I won't be reading any of your papers until
this happens.
John F. Moe, MD, MPH
I would not read or subscribe
to a paper that does not have editorial cartoons.
Ron Rust
I'M SITTING SHIVA HERE IN DENVER FOR MICHAEL
RAMIREZ, WHO APPARENTLY HAS DIED A PREMATURE DEATH. I AM MOURNING
THE LOSS OF HIS BRILLIANTLY ARTISTIC COMMENTARY, AND CONSIDER
HIS DISMISSAL TO BE 'CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT' FOR THOSE
OF US WHO HAVE APPRECIATED HIS THOUGHTFUL ANALYSIS.
DR. RICHARD BAUM
DENVER, CO
I am writing to express my disappointment
in the Tribune's elimination of editorial cartoonists on its
staff. As a former journalist myself, I have always been amazed
how issues could be illustrated so succinctly with a drawing
as opposed to columns of detailed information. Over time, there
are "cartoons" that have stuck in my mind as representations
of important events (ie - the Challenger explosion, 9-11, Hurricane
Katrina, etc....).
I currently live in Tallahassee, FL, and may not know the names
of the reporters with the Tallahassee Democrat, but can tell
you that our editorial cartoonist is Doug Marlette. I was proud
when the Democrat hired him, and even though some of his work
is controversial and I don't always agree with it, I read it
every day and would miss it if it were gone. I would hope that
your larger newspaper would look beyond the bottom line and realize
the value of the editorial cartoonist.
Sincerely,
Laura Bevan
Tallahassee, FL
You should be ashamed. By
far the best way to get a point across, and you eliminate it.
What are you afraid of?
Ken Keith
In your relentless pursuit of profit
you have made the "Baltimore Sun" irrelevant. Your
return on investment exceeds the average for most businesses
and yet you continue to ruin a once prestigious newspaper. Writers
of substance have been terminated and now no local cartoonist.
I no longer see any reason to buy the "Baltimore Sun."
Richard Bergenstein
Mt. Airy, MD
The paint on your car
The garden around your home
Your best suit
The icing on the cake.
They are simply not a cost, they are an investment.
Kind Regards,
Phil Voysey
Australia
I don't have a bird. Therefore, I no
longer need the Baltimore Sun thanks to advertising delivered
free by the U S Postal Service.
Glen R Scutt
How could you cut the political/editorial
cartoon - that's one of the first things I look for - often why
I buy the paper at all! Come on - this amounts to censorship,
i.e. preventing us from the opinions of these cartoonists/editorialists
permanently!
I think I will respond by refusing to buy Tribune papers.
David J. Biviano
Mr. Weitman,
I can still recall reading from my high school AP American History
textbook. Every single chapter was riddled with editorial cartoons
that were far more interesting than the text I read. No other
medium can portray contemporary national concerns with insightful
twists in such a small area. Editorial cartoons are one of the
great American artforms - as unique and noteworthy as jazz or
cinema.
Why then, do you insist on eliminating this national treasure to
increase an already high profit margin? I've never read
the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, or the Baltimore
Sun - but I have read every single editorial cartoon published
in those papers for several years.
I am absolutely disturbed by the release of Pulitzer Prize-winner
Michael Ramirez whose cartoons I especially appreciated; he
being one of the few conservative cartoonists in the nation. Mr.
Ramirez's differing - not to mention strong - viewpoints
were always thought-provoking and worthy of his awards (and I
say this as a liberal).
Mr. Weitman, I urge you to restore the posts of editorial cartoonists
at your news publications. Let us not destroy our culture for
the sake of a bottom line.
Peter Hedgecock
DECEMBER 12, 2005
 BLACK INK MONDAY ... a
political cartoonist protest against lost jobs
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) has
responded to recent cartoonist job losses by asking their members
to draw cartoons in protest. Monday December 12 is
"Black Ink Monday" when the cartoons are posted.
AAEC president, Clay Bennett writes:
"Since Ben Franklin and colonial times, the editorial cartoon
has been one of the most visible and popular parts of the daily
paper. However, recent changes within the newspaper industry
have placed this American institution at risk.
Over the last 20 years, the number of cartoonists on the staff
of daily newspapers nationwide has been cut in half. In the last
month alone, the Tribune Company (owner of the Chicago Tribune,
Los Angeles Times and a half-dozen other prominent papers), has
forced out well-known and award-winning cartoonists at the LA
Times and Baltimore Sun, eliminating their positions entirely.
Now, editorial cartoonists are responding to these cuts, in the
best way they know how - by throwing ink."
These are difficult times for the political
cartooning profession, which seems to be suffering a slow, painful
death. This is ironic because the editorial cartoon continues
to be one of the most popular features in a newspaper; but cartoons
also cause trouble, and editors are more comfortable editing
words than pictures, so cartoonists often are the first to find
their heads on the chopping blocks when newspapers make cuts.
The worst culprit in hastening the death of our profession has
recently been the Tribune Company, whose flagship papers (the
Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun)
now have no staff cartoonists. We at Cagle Cartoons and the AAEC
urge cartoon fans to click
here to send an e-mail to the Tribune Company's Gary
Weitman, VP of Communications, to tell him that political
cartoons are important to you, and you don't like the Tribune
Company's cartoonist cutbacks. We'll post a selection of your
emails in the blog. Click here to see the cartoons.
The cartoonists appreciate your help! --Daryl Cagle
DECEMBER 9 2005
Professor Chris Lamb wrote the article below for our blog about
the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' "Black
Ink Monday" protest. E-mail
Chris. The cartoon below is by Scott
Stantis, a long time contributor to our site who also draws
the comic strip, Prickly City.
In Defense of Editorial Cartooning, by Chris
Lamb
When Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Doug
Marlette was once asked whether his drawings ever made a
difference, he deadpanned: "Yes, I ended the Vietnam War."
Marlette, to set the record straight, didn't end the Vietnam
War - at least not by himself.
But editorial cartoonists helped capture the war's folly with
often searing imagery. For instance, few articles or photographs
of the war are as memorable as David Levine's drawing of President
Lyndon Johnson lifting his shirt to reveal a gallbladder scar
shaped like Vietnam.
Johnson, who once emerged from surgery to show reporters and
photographers his gallbladder scar, was driven from office by
his failure to manage the Vietnam War. With brilliant juxtaposition,
Levine captured LBJ's legacy with no words in a way that transcended
written work.
When editorial cartoonists are at their best, they're like switchblades:
simple and to the point; they cut deeply and leave an impression.
Years after the Washington Post's Herbert Block - or Herblock
as he signed his cartoons - portrayed a stubbly-faced Richard
Nixon climbing out of a sewer, Nixon said: "I have to erase
the Herblock image."
 Herblock
created the term "McCarthyism" to represent the anti-Communist
hysteria of the 1950s Red Scare. By associating the abuses of
the Red Scare with U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Herblock helped
turn public opinion against the demagogue, the far right and
their assault on our civil liberties. In one Herblock drawing,
a man labeled "hysteria" and carrying a bucket filled
with water, is climbs a ladder to extinguish the Statue of Liberty's
flame.
By starkly uncovering the naked truths of our emperors, cartoonists
have contributed to the political and social fabric of America
since Benjamin Franklin called for a united front against England
in his crude drawing, "Join, or Die." In 1988, U.S.
Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist recognized the
value of editorial cartoons. "Despite their sometimes caustic
nature, graphic depictions and satirical cartoons have played
a prominent role in public and political debate," Rehnquist
said, adding: "From the viewpoint of history it is clear
that our political discourse would have been considerably poorer
without (editorial cartoons)."
But these are bad times for editorial cartoonists, who have seen
their numbers fall precipitously. In the last few weeks, the
Tribune Company, which owns a number of newspapers, laid off
Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Michael Ramirez from the Los Angeles
Times. Kevin Kallaugher, of the Baltimore Sun, himself facing
a layoff by the Tribune Company, accepted a buyout.
On Monday, December 12, dozens of editorial cartoonists will
participate in what the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists
calls "Black Ink Monday." Their drawings will protest
both the state of the art and the state of the newspaper industry,
which is being weakened by corporate downsizing.
Media companies - like the Tribune - are cutting newspaper staffs
for higher profits. While this puts more money in the pockets
of a few, it puts the newspaper industry at risk - and a weakened
newspaper industry puts our democracy at risk. A free and vigorous
press not only strengthens a democracy, it is necessary for a
democracy. Nobody takes America's tradition of free expression
more personally than editorial cartoonists.
William M. Tweed, the ignominious political boss of the 1870s,
once summarized the simple potency of editorial cartoons by reportedly
saying: "I don't care what they print about me. Most of
my constituents can't read. But them damn pictures!" Cartoonist
Thomas Nast helped bring Tweed to justice with drawings that
included "The Brain," which showed Tweed's body with
a bag of money for a head.
During World War I, cartoonists produced two drawings that represent
diametrically different viewpoints of war - James Montgomery
Flagg's Uncle Sam commanding: "I Want You," which remains
America's strongest recruiting tool, and Robert Minor's timeless
indictment of war, "At Last a Perfect Soldier," which
shows a military examiner salivating over a hulking, headless
soldier.
During World War II, cartoonist Bill Mauldin poignantly captured
the solder's life in his "Willie and Joe" strip. In
today's newspapers, Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury" character
B.D., who lost a leg in the Iraq war, struggles with pain - physical,
mental and emotional - that evocatively resonates with tens of
thousands of soldiers and their families
From Nast to Herblock to the present, the best editorial cartoonists
had editors who both respected their work but also respected
the vital role that social criticism plays in American society.
These editors knew that having a staff editorial cartoonist brought
something to the newspaper's pages that transcended the written
word.
H.L. Mencken, the venerable editor of the Baltimore Sun, once
said: "Give me a good cartoonist and I can throw out half
the editorial staff." Mencken's cartoonist, Edmund Duffy,
was fearless in condemning the Ku Klux Klan's influence in Baltimore
in the 1920s and early 1930s. After one lynching, Duffy drew
a black man dangling from a rope accompanied by the state song,
"Maryland, My Maryland!" Such an image contributed
to the state passing an anti-lynching law.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the Chicago Tribune had three editorial
cartoonists on staff, including two Pulitzer winners, Jeff MacNelly
and Dick Locher. James Squires, who was then the newspaper's
editor, admitted that editorial cartoons - especially those drawn
by MacNelly - caused him more grief than all of the words written
by all of his reporters in a year.
And yet Squires insisted that he was committed to giving MacNelly
as much freedom as possible. Why? "Because the political
satires of Jeff MacNelly and those of a handful of similarly
talented newspaper cartoonists represent the most incisive and
effective form of commentary known to man and one as vital to
the exercise of free speech and open debate as any words that
ever appeared on such pages," Squires said. "To censor
them would be a definite disservice to art, and a probable danger
to democracy."
Squires has been gone from the Tribune for a long time and the
newspaper now has no cartoonists on staff. Neither does the Baltimore
Sun. Both newspapers are under the management of the Tribune
Company.
A century ago, newspaper editors, in an attempt to increase circulation
and to create a sense of identity, hired editorial cartoonists
and put their work on Page 1. Today, as newspapers desperately
search for both readers and an identity, they are getting rid
of cartoonists. Newspapers who say they can't afford a staff
editorial cartoonist have it wrong. They can't afford to not
have an editorial cartoonist.
Chris Lamb, an associate professor of Media Studies at the College
of Charleston in Charleston, SC, is the author of Drawn to Extremes:
The Use and Abuse of Editorial Cartoons. He can be reached at
lambc@cofc.edu. Cartoon above
by John Sherffius.
DECEMBER
8, 2005
Mr.
Fish responds to a complaint from our e-mailbag below ...
My most favorite quote from Lenny Bruce is this: Knowledge
of syphilis is not instruction to get it.
The phrase, I always believed, spoke to the greatest strength
of a democracy, namely that information was the stuff of conversation
and that a lack of information was the ire of violence and the
bedfellow of misunderstanding and the cancer of prejudice. That
said, and in the interest of inspiring a conversation that is
sorely lacking on the national level despite a raging international
debate that is now moving into its third and let's hope final
year I feel compelled to publish pieces of a conversation
sparked by the posting of the following cartoon on this site
several days ago:
Additionally, hoping to influence the outcome
of another one of my favorite quotes, one slightly more prophetic
than the first, I want to publicly contradict the prevailing
notion that peace is what the victor enjoys and suggest that
a real and lasting peace is what comes by avoiding any contest
that demands there be a loser. The quote, by Susan Sontag:
10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and
10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and the remaining 80
percent can be moved in either direction.
From: Andrew Hill
Dear Sir or Madame,
I am contacting you regarding a cartoon you posted on your website
http://www.cagle.com
On 12/6/05 by Dyawne Booth. The cartoon
depicts a german soldier from the second world war (from a famous
WW IIphotograph) with the caption "I can't tell if this
is a german soldier from 1944 or an American Soldier from 2005)((And
neither can his victims)).
As a veteran, I am sure you can understand
my disgust at this cartoon, and the fact that this cartoon was
posted on your website on Pearl Harbor Day was not lost on me.
While I undertand and respect the wide array of political viewpoints
represented in your site--this particular cartoon has crossed
the line.
I am asking, not demanding, that out of
respect for all American servicemen and women past and present,
that you kindly remove (or de-list) this highly offensive cartoon
from your website. I appreciate your understanding in this matter.
I will be checking you website periodically over the next few
days, and I expect I will be forwarding your website's URL along
with this cartoon to the local and National headquarters of the
VFW, American Legion, and national news media sometime in the
near future if this cartoon remains up.
Thank you so much for your understanding!
Sincerely,
Andrew P. Hill
My response to Mr. Hill, and to a number
of other similar emails, one simply reading, "You know what,
I hope this is a picture of an American soldier ready to come
back here and kick your F****** ASS until your stupid little
liberal brains are splattered all over the sidewalk," was
this:
I am the author of the cartoon that you
object so strongly to on the Cagle site and offer the following
explanation for your kind consideration.
When I made the cartoon that you're referring
to I knew and wanted it to piss people off. I wanted it to be
something of an experiment, one that demonstrated a rather curious
(though not uncommon) predisposition that people have towards
nationalism and all that is wrong with the current notion of
patriotism. The fact is that my cartoon does not blame any soldier,
German or American, for carrying out any crimes against humanity.
All that my cartoon says is that it's irresponsible to support
any army that is sent on a mission of invasion and occupation,
period. All other inferences are for the viewer to make, including
those that fail to recognize the common military man on the German
side of the Second World War as just another soldier called into
duty by a government whose foreign policy is contemptible and
atrocious and ultimately unworthy of any support whatsoever.
Certainly, German soldiers in the Second World War were by and
large decent kids who, when they weren't invading Poland or Czechoslovakia,
were no doubt loads of fun to hang out with and to slap on the
back and to drink beer with. The same can easily be said of any
army throughout, including ours.
My cartoon attempts to speak to one of
the great tragedies of the present situation in Iraq: the fact
that American servicemen, because of the cruel and contemptible
foreign policy of their government, are being made to engage
in an illegal mission that has seen, by most estimates, the death
of somewhere between 30,000 and 100,000 civilians and the further
destabilization of a region that abhors our arrogance, will respond
to our brutality with deadly violence and will not tolerate our
obvious disdain for peace.
One of the responses that I got was this:
Dwayne,
I love hearing b |
