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November 28, 2006
E&P on Plagiarism and Copying in the Internet Age
The Dec. 2006 print edition of Editor & Publisher has an article on the influence the Internet has on editorial cartoonists and the people who copy their work. It is reprinted here with their permission.
Cartoon Copycats on Rise Due to Web?
Not necessarily, because the Internet makes it easier to catch plagiarists. Also, cartoonists discuss how to keep work original
By Dave Astor
A month ago, the newspaper world was abuzz with reports that a Harvard Crimson contributor allegedly copied several editorial cartoons posted on the Web site run by Daryl Cagle. So E&P decided to ask cartoonists whether the Internet has caused more work to be deliberately or inadvertently mimicked today than in decades past.
Most of those queried weren't sure, or guessed that the amount of duplication has stayed relatively constant over the years. "I don't think there's more copying now than there was prior to the Internet," said Jimmy Margulies, editorial cartoonist for The Record of Hackensack, N.J., and King Features Syndicate. "There were instances in the 1980s and before."
J.P. Trostle, news editor of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' editorialcartoonists.com site, agreed that cartoon copying might not have increased in the digital age. He said the Web makes it easier to find cartoons to consciously or subconsciously mimic, but the Web also makes it easier to quickly catch derivative creators.
That's a major reason why copying "hasn't necessarily gotten worse," said AAEC President Rob Rogers. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/United Media cartoonist added that it usually took longer for pre-Web copiers to be exposed, meaning they could borrow from other artists' work for a longer period of time.
Several cartoonists said there are other reasons, besides potential Web swiping, for why many cartoons look similar these days. One reason involves what newspapers are willing to publish.
Trostle, a cartoonist not currently employed by a newspaper, said many editors won't run cartoons they think are too out-of-the-ordinary. "If it's radically different, they don't put it in," he said.
A cartoon, Trostle added, can seem "radically different" to editors simply because of the art. He said that during the past three decades or so, papers have become so used to seeing cartoons drawn in the style of Pat Oliphant or the late Jeff MacNelly that different visual looks threaten some editors' comfort levels.
A cartoon can also appear vaguely threatening to editors due to its content. "Editors are not as willing to publish hard-hitting cartoons," commented Ann Telnaes of the Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate/New York Times Syndicate. The result, she said, is a number of "mushy" cartoons with a similar gag-oriented approach.
These softer cartoons can be especially prevalent in newspaper and magazine roundups. Trostle calls this phenomenon "Newsweek-itis" ? something to which many creators often or occasionally succumb in pursuit of high- circulation exposure.
"A lot of cartoonists have a tendency to do the Jay Leno thing," agreed Chuck Asay of The Gazette in Colorado Springs and Creators Syndicate.
One way Asay avoids this -- and tries to keep his work unique -- is to frequently use a multi-panel format.
"Also, I don't think many cartoonists have my biblical worldview about the issues," he added. "That probably prevents me from doing the kind of cartoons that other people do."
Several cartoonists mentioned that it's easier to do unique work if they avoid using the first idea that pops into their heads (unless they're on deadline). Margulies reported that he might come up with six cartoon possibilities before deciding which is the best to go with.
For instance, after civil rights icon Rosa Parks died, Margulies thought of drawing Parks sitting in the front of a bus to heaven. But he figured -- correctly, as it turned out -- that many other cartoonists would have the same idea. Margulies thought harder, and came up with Abraham Lincoln giving his Lincoln Memorial seat to Parks. Only one other cartoonist, to Margulies' knowledge, drew something similar.
"When I come up with something quickly, I figure it's obvious and that other people are going to do it," added Telnaes. "So I take a deep breath and try to think of something else."
Telnaes also tries to avoid symbols, such as the Republican elephant and Democratic donkey, that have been around for decades. Among the symbols she prefers are sheep, which she uses to portray an American media that often defers to power.
Practice and experience also lead to more original work. Rogers and Trostle noted that young cartoonists often copy the styles of their favorite cartoonists as they're learning the craft. "But you have to grow as a cartoonist and eventually get away from that," said Trostle.
Cartoonists also attempt to stay unique by avoiding the Internet -- or immersing themselves in it.
Margulies looks at cartoons on the Web as much as he can, both because he enjoys seeing what his peers are doing and because it enables him to "steer away from" drawing a cartoon that might be similar to what's already out there.
Bill Day takes the opposite approach. "I try not to look at Web sites," said Day, of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis and United. "Something can subconsciously enter your mind and you might think it was your original idea."
Rogers also tries to avoid scanning the Web for cartoons. "Not because I'll ever steal something, but because if I see a really good idea, I can't get it out of my mind," he said. "It hurts my creative process. I just try to think of ideas in my own head, because there's no one else in there!"
Of course, some cartoonists inadvertently come up with similar ideas no matter how hard they try to avoid it.
"When you read the same newspapers and swim in the same pop-culture soup, it happens," said Trostle.
"Everybody has probably done something that looked like something else," agreed Rogers. He said the real problem is when a creator repeatedly draws cartoons that resemble the work of others.
"If cartoonists independently come up with the same idea at the same time, that's legitimate duplication," said Margulies. "If a cartoonist comes up with the same idea afterward, that's a different story."
Day concluded: "We sign our names to our creations. They should be our own ideas."