The Times is arguably the most well-known and prestigious newspaper in the United States. It should be championing and supporting the work of the industry’s top professionals in all facets of journalism—reporters, columnists, feature writers, editorialists, and—yes . . . cartoonists. An initiative like this does the opposite. It contributes to the devaluation of the work of editorial cartoonists not just in the offer of extremely low pay and the submission of finished work without the expectation of ANY pay, but in the very nature of editorial cartoons as an individual voice of real opinion. Editorial cartoonists are visual columnists who have specific voices, and “competitions” like this discourage that individuality while encouraging the pursuit and of whatever joke might give the jury the biggest chuckle of the week. To stage such a competition among an amateur public would be one thing, to ask a specific group of well-established and professional editorial cartoonists to do it is quite another. That is a slap in the face to their work and profession.

While I applaud your desire to once again feature individual editorial cartoons in the Times, I sincerely hope you will rethink this approach. It would behoove the Times to conduct a search among the countries best editorial cartoonists for one that has a voice that is in keeping with the editorial position of your newspaper, and then commission them to produce a weekly cartoon for which they are paid a living wage for exclusive rights. Such a change would support the profession of cartooning and journalism, and be in keeping with the reputation of the New York Times as one of the world’s leading newspapers.

Read the whole thing over at Tom’s blog.

Ted Rall wrote an open letter response (see below) which has now been adopted and signed by 57 other cartoonists which include six Pulitzer Prize winners.

Ms. Aviva Michaelov
Art Direction, Graphic and Web Design
The Sunday Review
New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York NY 10018

Dear Aviva:

While we appreciate and applaud your move to add more cartoons to the Sunday Review, we are concerned about your announced submission (no pun intended) policy and payment.

The current proposal has the effect of putting scores of cartoonists to work every week. But only one will have a (small) chance to be published. Like an old-fashioned “shape up” of longshoremen, this is demoralizing and will likely lead to a diminished number and quality of submissions over time. This works neither for the cartoonists nor for The Times. We suggest that you either commission cartoonists whose work you like directly, or return to the previous approach of running syndicated material which do not require additional work on the part of editorial cartoonists who are struggling mightily in the current economic environment.

Furthermore, the proposed payment is extremely low given the low chances of publication, the requirement that an artist clear his or her Friday schedule, and–most of all–the huge circulation of The New York Times, the largest newspaper in the United States. Although The New York Times in the past has paid only $50 for a reprint of syndicated cartoons, the market standard for a reprint for a newspaper of your size is $250. You are offering this $250 now for original content. An original cartoon for The Times should pay closer to $1500 to $2000. And the rate should be even higher if you maintain the New Yorker-style submission policy, to which many cartoonists have long objected and boycotted.

It is not necessary to reinvent the wheel here. There are long-established norms for submission and payment for cartoons in the newspaper industry that have functioned well and would work well for you going forward. We hope you will consider them.

Signed February 9, 2012 by the following cartoonists:

Kirk Anderson
Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle*
Robert Ariail, Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, SC)
Steve Artley
John Auchter, MLive Media Group
Pat Bagley, Salt Lake City Tribune
Richard Bartholomew, Artizans Syndicate
Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner
Charles Beyl, Sunday News (Lancaster, PA)
John Branch, North America Syndicate
Steve Breen, San Diego Union-Tribune*
Daryl Cagle, msnbc.com
Tim Campbell, Current Publishing
Cameron Cardow (CAM), Ottawa Citizen
J.D. Crowe, Mobile (AL) Press-Register
Matt Davies, Tribune Media Services*
John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Brian Duffy, King Features Syndicate
Tim Eagan, Deep Cover
Bob Englehart, Hartford Courant
Paul Fell
David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Daily Star
Garrincha, El Nuevo Herald
Bob Gorrell, Creators Syndicate
Phil Hands, Wisconsin State Journal
Roger Harvell
Joe Heller, Green Bay (WI) Press-Gazette
Jack Higgins, Chicago Sun-Times
Keith Knight, The K Chronicles/The Knight Life
Jeff Koterba, Omaha World-Herald
Jay Lamm, The Franklin Times
Chan Lowe, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jimmy Margulies, The Record (NJ)
R.J. Matson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Rick McKee, Augusta Chronicle (GA)
Stephanie McMillan, Universal Press Syndicate
Mike Keefe, Denver Post*
Angelo Lopez, Philippines Today
Jim Morin, Miami Herald
Jack Ohman, The Oregonian
Jeff Parker, Florida Today
Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader*
Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News*
Milt Priggee
Ted Rall, Universal Press Syndicate
Rob Rogers, Pittburgh Post-Gazette
V. C. Rogers, The Independent Weekly (Durham, NC)
Marshall Ramsey, Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger
Jen Sorensen, Slowpoke
Scott Stantis, Chicago Tribune
Ed Stein
Tom Stiglich, Journal-Register Newspapers
Dana Summers, Orlando Sentinel
Dan Wasserman, Boston Globe
Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News*
Karl Wimer, Denver Business Journal
Matt Wuerker, The Politico
Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News

*Asterisk indicates winner of the Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning

Here’s the list of artists:

• Bill Amend
• Brian Anderson
• Mark Anderson
• Sergio Aragones
• Steven Artley
• Michael Auger
• Brian Basset
• Carolyn Belefski
• Sandra Bell-Lundy
• Jeremy Billadeau
• Ruben Bolling
• Jim Borgman
• Daniel Boris
• Doug Bratton
• Chance Browne
• Jean Burns
• Tony Carillo
• David Clark
• Michael Cole
• Tyson Cole
• Steve Conley
• John Conroy
• Danielle Corsetto
• Greg Cravens
• Stacy Curtis
• Barbara Dale
• Nikki and Derek Davis
• Jim Davis
• Matt Dembecki
• Rick Detorie
• Nathan DiPerri
• Jason Dodge
• Evan Dorkin
• Joe Duffy
• Peter Dunlap-Shohl
• Ken Eaton
• Jan Eliot
• Greg Evans
• Andrew Farrago
• Craig Faust
• Ron Ferdinand
• Norm Feuti
• Brian Fies
• Tom Fishburne
• Jay Fosgitt
• Nick Galifianakis
• Shannon Gallant
• Tom Gammill
• Shaenon Garrity
• Paul Gilligan
• Caanan Grall
• Dawn Griffin
• Brad Guigar
• Cathy Guisewite
• David Hagen
• Alex Hallatt
• John Hambrock
• Frank Hansen
• Dustin Harbin
• Rob Harrell
• Rob Hatem
• Edward Held
• Bill Hinds
• Bill Holbrook
• Matt Holm
• Bill Janocha
• Colette and Michael Jantze
• Sandy Jarrell
• Aaron Johnson
• Ian Johnson
• Kerry G Johnson
• Lynn Johnston
• Doug Jones
• Phil Juliano
• Birgit Keil
• Dave Kellet
• Karl Kesel
• Jamie King
• Rick Kirkman
• Adam Koford
• Susan Camilleri Konor
• Constatine Koutsoutis
• Peter Krause
• Roger Langridge
• Bill LaRocque
• Mell Lazarus
• Tiki Carol Leach
• J. Lemon
• Donna A. Lewis
• Terri Libenson
• Samuli Lintula
• Rene Lopez
• John Lotshaw
• Annie Lunsford
• Jonathan Mahood
• David Malki
• Jef Mallett
• Mason Mastronianni
• Don Mathias
• Dave McDonald
• Patrick McDonnell
• Kelly McNutt
• Bill Mitchell
• Bono Mitchell
• Dan Moynihan
• Patrick Oliphant
• Mark Parisi
• Stephan Pastis
• Lincoln Peirce
• Charles Perry
• Rina Piccolo
• Stephanie Piro
• Eddie Pittman
• Jerrard K. Polk
• Hillary Price
• Eric Reaves
• Scott Rempe
• Tom Richmond
• D.M. Rolfe
• John Rose
• Crowden Satz
• Chris Schechner
• Chris Schweizer
• Jerry Scott
• R. Sikoryak
• Adrian C Sinnott
• John K. Snyder III
• Kean Soo
• Jen Sorensen
• Chris Sparks
• Robert Steibel
• Jay Stephens
• Joe Sutliff
• Sarah Tallon
• Mark Tatulli
• Dan Thompson
• David Tomaselli
• Paul Trap
• G.B. Trudeau
• Lucas Turnbloom
• Jose Villena
• Brian Walker
• James Tim Walker
• Mort Walker
• Tim Warnes
• Bill Watterson
• Mo Willems
• Emily Wilson
• Ron Wolfe
• Matt Wuerker
• Craig Yoe
• Steve York
• David Zinn

You can pre-order the book now for $35.50 (regular edition) or $65.50 (author signed and numbered). The proceeds go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation to support Parkinson’s Disease research.

Filmmakers, academics, musicians, women and men of letters are arrested and threatened with death, beaten with electric cables, then abandoned in prison cells… Individuals embodying peace and the civic spirit have been savagely assassinated. The pro-democracy activist, Ghiyath Matar, offered water and roses to the military forces and was killed. The demonstrators’ bard, Ibrahim Qachouch, wrote the song, Syria wants freedom, and they cut his throat. The human rights activist, Farzat Yahya Jarban, filmed the demonstrations, and they gouged out his eyes. Hamza, a boy of 13 years old, was killed and his body mutilated. Hajar, a young girl, was riddled with bullets. Thousands of other people are reported missing.

Today, we are forced to choose between our humanity and a regime that has the blood of Syrians on its hands. Today, we declare ourselves to be on the side of freedom and creativity. We choose a people that has freed itself for the good of all. The freedom expressed on the streets has awoken ours. We cannot bring back to life our martyrs, but we can celebrate their lives and work body and soul with the Syrian revolution, to build a new country where children will not be murdered in the name of nationalist impostures.

Via Tom Spurgeon

Based on David Axe’s reporting from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010, Army Of God explores the history of the LRA and what is now one of the worst ongoing humanitarian crises in the world. Based on eyewitness accounts from captives and those working to stop the destructive militia, each chapter focuses on a different person and their role in the saga. With stark black and white artwork from Tim Hamilton, each character’s chilling account is brought to life, from diplomats to LRA soldiers to the women and children directly impacted by their campaign.

The first chapter recounts the Congo’s long history of colonialism, corruption, and strife that have set the stage for the conflict of today.

“The situation in Congo is changing rapidly in some regards, and in others it’s not changing at all,” says Axe. “Corrupt president Kabila just won re-election, most likely through massive voter fraud. His hold on power will be a stumbling block to improved security. But growing awareness of Congo’s problems, and a new U.S. military mission to help fight the LRA, offer some hope.”

Exhibit runs through April 17.

To Sorel, tracing is cheating.

“If you don’t trace, it’s art. If you trace, it’s illustration,” says Sorel. “For me, working direct is fine art, and tracing is commercial art. That’s the difference.”

Blaine was anything but bland. He had a black belt in karate, played guitar and sang, liked wearing cowboy boots and jewellery and was remembered for driving motorcycles and a Corvette Stingray monogrammed with a drawing of a butterfly on the hood.
…
But that wasn’t the only thing he won during his life. For his editorial cartooning, Blaine received National Newspaper Awards, a Reuben Award and a Salon of Cartoons Grand Prize. Blaine created a national profile for himself and the paper through the syndication of his work.

According to Romenesko Ted Rall penned the response that was signed by most of the cartoonists approached.

The current proposal has the effect of putting scores of cartoonists to work every week. But only one will have a (small) chance to be published. Like an old-fashioned “shape up” of longshoremen, this is demoralizing and will likely lead to a diminished number and quality of submissions over time. This works neither for we cartoonists nor for The Times. We suggest that you either commission cartoonists whose work you like directly, or return to the previous approach of running syndicated material which do not require additional work on the part of editorial cartoonists who are struggling mightily in the current economic environment.

Furthermore, the proposed payment is extremely low given the low chances of publication, the requirement that an artist clear his or her Friday schedule, and-most of all-the huge circulation of The New York Times, the largest newspaper in the United States. The market standard for a reprint for a newspaper of your size is $250-not for original content. An original cartoon for The Times should pay closer to $1500 to $2000. And the rate should be even higher if you maintain the New Yorker-style submission policy, to which many cartoonists have long objected and boycotted.

CLARIFICATION: I’ve received an email from a reader who informs me that the response penned by Ted, quoted above, is not an official response by the AAEC or by editorial cartoonists en mass. Apologies to anyone who interpreted as such.

Experts say that any creature inside in the pools of water – which are intended to protect workers – would have been exposed to the nuclear fuel.

This raises the prospect of a creature having morphed into a new species of ‘extremophile’ after being exposed to uranium.

Organisms with a natural resistance to radiation are said to be ‘radioresistant,’ and do exist. Deinococcus radiodurans is one of the most naturally radioresistant organisms on Earth and has been genetically engineered so that that it can be used in the treatment of radioactive waste.

Tests are being run on the substance and a report only states that the it has yet to be characterised, but “may be biological in nature.”