As a profession we have break ourselves of the mindset that we need to be a staff cartoon for A newspaper to have meaning. Corporate newspapers are DYING, there is no two ways about it. Eventually some of the these properties, or what is left of them will be sold for pennies on the dollar, but the damage will already have been done.
I have heard folks refer to us as canaries in the coalmine, but we’re not the only feature that have been jettisoned over the years. I think the situation is more like a bird that continues to pluck it’s own feathers off in hopes of lightening it’s load to stay aloft. At some point it just goes into a death spiral, and that’s what happening to corporate newspapers right now.

Our profession still has a future, and we are an imaginative lot, so let’s start blazing new trails and see where they go.

This little rambling was meant to be answer to an email that Steve Greenberg sent to me that I lost. I lose a lot of things, sorry Steve I hope you see this.

As for awards, what could be better than someone walking up to you and telling you that they loved your cartoon, or asking you to step into the alley so that the two of you could discuss it further over a knuckle sandwich.

I have heard from more than one journalist that if you are to be a pulitzer judge, is that THE judging committee you really want to be on is the one for editorial cartooning.

WHY? Because it’s the most fun, least amount of work and quickest to be done with so you can go out and eat ‘n’ drink with yer new journo buddies.

John, is also correct because the pulitzer judges (or ANY contest judges for that matter) are NOT going to take the time to learn the local background for them to appreciate an insightful visual commentary.

On the other hand and to be perfectly honest, I really can’t blame the/any judges. I’m sure they are doing the best job with the limited background they have about the art.

Plus, how can anybody out of the circulation area REALLY appreciate the cause, the power and impact, the fallout and result of a local cartoon, unless they are actually living in that community. Yes, you can lobby the judges by including testimonials, letters to the editor and follow-up stories,etc,etc….but is that really the cartoon or the lobbying?

The only (or best) way to appreciate a good local cartoon is by opening your local paper and seeing the cartoon about a local issue that your community has been dealing with for a certain amount of time. The best cartoons are the cartoons that create a community BUZZ. Those cartoons that are being talked about around the water cooler,etc,etc..and causing readers to pass around the paper to other citizens.

Nobody can expect any judge for any contest to judge local cartoons unless they have actually been aware of the background and history of the local issue BEFORE seeing the cartoons. That’s why the punch lines are usually at the end of the joke….they have more impact at the end. And reading a little paragraph describing the issue before looking at the toon don’t cut it.

I salute the new AAEC Prez Rex Babbin for bringing up the issue that local cartoons deserve more credit. The big question is to how best to do that. Trying to do that by bestowing some title on somebody is a lose, lose, lose situation. (besides Clay Bennett has enough awards)

I believe the best way to recognize the value of a local cartoonist can be easily achieved by simply not firing the cartoonist. Or as the Chicago Tribune just did with Scott Stantis, hire back at least one of the three you let go. Or better yet, quit threatening your local cartoonist because the ‘chilling factor’ is not helping them, your readers or your company’s bottom line.

I also get more comments from the local toons than the National ones. The few that I can remember him killing were when I got a little too personal in attacking the individual. And the only time I remember a complaint that was threatening to drop her subscription, was because the paper was daring enough to print Obama toons. Go figure.
I was also allowed to attack Walmart locally, a big advertiser for our paper. They are building a new store in a controversial historical (maybe) sight. I was proud the paper stood its ground in tight times.

People want to see their local nucklehead council and boards lampooned, I think. And it kind of brands the local paper’s editorial page. They can’t get that from the other papers in our community.

When it comes time for the State press competition, I am told to pick from the National or State topic stack, as the judges would not be familiar with the locals.

Instead, cartoonists who hope to win are forced to submit entries that are all about the same topic(s). The judges — some of whom wouldn’t know a good cartoon if it wore a nametage and bit them on the … leg — decide who drew the funniest Obama cartoon, the most poignant Hillary cartoon, the hardest-hitting Palin cartoon, etc.

Imagine if the Investigative Reporting category was run the same way: Every entry would be about the same basic investigation. Never mind there are thousands of issues worth the time and expense to investigate; the judges don’t want to invest the time and effort to understand all that.

Bottom line: There’s plenty to suggest the Big P frequently doesn’t take cartooning seriously.

Also, I think the time of expose Tammany Hall/Boss Tweed editorial cartooning is long gone. Most political fights today involve two sides that are sharply opposed, but no one side is necessarily ‘evil’.

So it would be seen as being unfair and arbitrary for a local newspaper to take a side and express it in an editorial cartoon. Given how polarized we are, they’re going to piss off 50% of the readers every time if they do.

What seems typical in many cities is that the local daily usually leans toward a pro-business attitude, while the alternative weekly skews liberal. Here in Austin, the Statesman will be more pro-development while the Chronicle is pro-environment.

If local is king, then hopefully it’s just a matter of time before both the Statesman and the Chronicle end up being twice-weekly publications with opposing attitudes, and then we’re back to where we started with competition for readers by way of causing a reaction. Hooray!

If the cartoonist is foolish enough to believe that creating local content for their publisher is a psoitive….. they are more likely than not to be fired or at least on the bubble.

Why you may ask, would a content creator who is producing content that the newspaper can’t from any other source be a prime candidate to be fired?

It’s simple….You give the customer what they want….and
the editor/publisher does NOT want local cartoons. Especially in todays economic climate, editor/publishers are even more sensitive to ANYTHING that would cause ANY reaction from ANYBODY.

Editorializing is a leftover aspect of newspapers when there were owner/publishers who were competing for readers. Editorial cartooning was the result of a perfect storm of competition between publishers for readers. In the past management wanted a reaction, today they want the complete opposite.

Times have changed, newspapers are no longer the big dog in the yard. Editorializing in newspapers is dead, most editor/publishers would prefer safe entertainment, if they are even going to consider keeping an editorial page in their downsizing.
Editorializing represents risk, it means taking a stand on an issue. The powers that be don’t want to risk anything, they would prefer and believe that an editorial cartoon should be funny.

Local cartooning represents an even BIGGER risk that management would prefer not to deal with at all.
Local cartoons means a cartoonist will be zeroing in the artillery right down on his own head. Local cartooning is suicide.
SO, yes local cartooning deserves more credit, but if your a cartoonist who is trying to protect your paycheck, just make sure your illustration of the Jay Leno monologue is super safe and funny.

The real question is, why does anyone care about the Pulitzers?

There was a exhibit of past Pulitzer cartooning winners at one of the AAEC conventions. It was notable for its mediocrity; while most of the profession’s giants went unrecognized over the years, all manner of hacks have won. There were exceptions every few years, of course, but usually even the better cartoonists won for their weakest years.

Alan, I don’t understand your post.Cartoons about national and international issues are necessarily reactive too.