By historic or classic strips, I was trying to think of a nice way to say reprints by dead (or retired) cartoonists … not really the ones currently being done by new cartoonists and writers.

When I was in Chicago in the early 80s, they tried to keep Nancy afloat by brining in a new cartoonist (Scott I think) and he did a good job breathing new life into it, but I’m not sure how long it lasted after that. I think the opportunity to work on “classic” strips would be a good way to break into the business by upcoming cartoonists and writers. I have no problem with a syndicate trying to keep a strip going, but I agree, they should keep the quality up.

IMHO – newspapers will be here in 20 years. Just think the “as we know it” part will be the question mark. I’m not sure if newspapers have sold out to the stockholders as much as they had sold out the readers by being boring and one-sided. About the only thing I read is the comics, an occasional headline, local interest stories, editorial or upcoming events.

My 2¢ anyway! Good discussion!!!

I agree, today’s newspapers have undervalued the contribution comics make to their sales, unlike the newspapers from the first half of the 20th Century. However, I think part of the problem is that they cut “historic” or “classic” strips rather than keeping them. Many “historic” or “classic” strips went through a period of several years when syndicates saw that people wanted some of them to continue, yet they turned them over to inferior or pedestrian writers and artists because they worked cheap. The recent trend is to bring in better writers and artists, but for some of the strips it could very well be too late. In other words, syndicates themselves are more to blame for the demise of may “historic” or “classic” strips rather than the demise of the writer or artist. (Of course that, and newspapers’ shrinking of their size.)

Why isn’t anyone out there suggesting over in the comic book world that Superman, Batman, et al., should have died with their creators? Then why should it be that way in the comic strip world for strips that are still popular?

>

Comic strips are one of the few things that were created especially for newspapers. They have been one of the things that make newspapers special. But for many years most newspapers have abused them, most especially by beginning the cycle of printing them smaller, so that writers write fewer words for them and artists draw less and simpler art, so that newspapers figure they can print them smaller, so that writers write fewer words for them and artists draw less and simpler art, so that newspapers figure they can print them smaller, and so on ad infinitum.

Additionally, it’s been the corporate mentality that has created a standardized ROI across a chain, and that’s caused newspapers to aim for shares. Similar thing’s happened in radio. And the public has turned away from both.

As far as bloggers v. newspapers – it’s going to be a symbiotic ecosystem. Bloggers need mass media to generate the news upon which the bloggers feast and bloggers will generate news as well the the media will pick up on and pursue and write about in much greater depth than a blog can.

I think Cuban is exactly right, and I thank my esteemed colleague from The Rome News-Tribune for posting it.

If I had more time? I’d get into places where people are so afraid right now that the economics dominate the common sense. I’d get into a business like newspapers—local newspapers. Newspapers are a perfect example of how economics dominate common sense. Contrary to popular belief, newspapers aren’t dying. Newspapers are making tons of money; they just aren’t keeping their shareholders happy, they aren’t meeting the expectations on Wall Street. The problem with newspapers is that they’re trying to grow like they’re Internet companies in 1999. Their shareholders are bitching at them about not showing growth in share prices. The minute you have to run your business for share prices, you’ve lost. It’s over. They’ve focused on that and so they’ve lost. What they should do is step back and ask, “What makes us special?”

ML

Personally I think newspapers have undervalued the contribution cartoons make to their sales. As they cut space or keep “historic” or “classic” strips (at the expense of adding new strips anyway), I think they shoot themselves in the foot.

The other thing I believe they can do (and some are doing) is try to provide more balanced coverage of the issues. I’d love to see an editorial page split between prevailing liberal and conservative takes on the issues, including opposing editorial cartoons. But that’s just me!