AAEC - Editorial Cartoon News
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December 22, 2005
Are editorial cartoonists a dying breed?
Courtesy of editorsweblog.org
Editorial cartoonists across the US recently staged a protest called 'Black
Ink Monday' (a series of 106 great cartoons) in response to the loss of
editorial cartoonist positions at a number of Tribune Co. newspapers and
more generally "as a commentary on newspapers everywhere who have lost
sight
of the value of having a staff editorial cartoonist."
Leonard Witt of the Public Journalism Network interviewed Clay Bennett, president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, who spoke of how important an asset an editorial cartoonist can be for a newspaper.
Witt begins the interview by stating that the number of full time staff cartoonists in the US has dropped significantly, from 200 to 80.
Witt asked Bennett, "Why should I care about a cartoonist when the bean counters are also cutting beat reporters and investigative reporters?
Bennett responded: "these job losses are mainly due to financial and
not
journalistic decisions. The people who are making these decisions ... choose
to serve their shareholders and not their readers. ... of all the
journalists at a newspaper the editorial cartoonist is the most provocative.
That may be the position's undoing. When accountants make decisions about
who needs to go, its very easy to put the most controversial members of your
staff at the top of that list. What they're not considering is a feature
like editorial cartoons, which may lose you a few subscriptions, will bring
in ten times that."
When asked to elaborate on editorial cartoonists attracting 10 times more readers, Bennett said the following: "As for an editorial cartoon bringing in 10 times as many readers as the number it may lose a paper, again, that's just the nature of controversy. Whether readers love you, or hate you, they always want to see what you're up to ... Controversy sells papers."
Witt asks Bennett whether he thinks that cartoonists might gravitate towards the internet given that their positions at newspapers, and indeed newspapers themselves, seem in danger of extinction?
Bennett answered: "Circulation trends for all newspapers have taken a dip, but I am not as gloomy about the future of ink on paper as everybody else seems to be because of local news ... The old saying is, "Think globally, act locally," and this is what will keep newspapers in business. ... Sure, cartoonists are flocking to the net. The progress is slow, but every day cartoonists exploit more and more of those things that are unique to the internet."
Witt concluded the interview with the question: "Is the pocketbook mightier than the pen?"
Bennett's response was: "Emphatically NO. eventually newspapers are going to realize that their best weapon in the competitive journalistic war is the editorial cartoonist. It's going to make economic sense and journalistic sense."
Read the interview at: http://pjnet.org/weblogs/pjnettoday/archives/000935.html