No Laughing Matter? Part 1
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There is an increasing pressure on newspapers to only print cartoons and opinions that are indifferent, mundane, noncontroversial. Cartoons otherwise get letters of disapproval from readers which, in a climate of shrinking subscription bases, scare editors and publishers leading to non-partisan, generic cartoons.
Cagle Cartoons posts its best selling cartoons every week and for the most part they don’t have a much of a “bite.” That is not to say the cartoonists don’t create hard-hitting cartoons – they do, but those don’t make the best-sellers list. So to make a weekly working wage there has to be some milder takes that editors aren’t afraid to publish.
Case in point:
Paul Duginski had the #1 cartoon in Cagle’s recent Top 10 Political Cartoons of the Week, a rather mild comment on the current economic plight and the difficulties faced by the American family.
Paul Duginsky has some partisan cartoons bashing politicians that would certainly bring disapproving letters to the editor and he is no stranger to Mike Peterson’s Comic Strip of the Day column.
But “American Fables” was a safe one for editors and a lot of them grabbed it, getting Paul the #1 slot.
But even so (or here):
I couldn’t disagree more with the political cartoon published on the Opinion page in the May 12 edition of the Daily News.
It featured a dad reading an “American Fables” book to his son in bed. The child replies, “Aw, Dad! Nobody believes that stuff about climbing the economic ladder anymore…”
OK, Editor Clark, explain yourself, and why you continue to publish only Cagle Cartoons.
Next weekend will see a number of safe cartoons honoring our fallen soldiers, but even those may provoke some to write letters. Try as they might to give the people what they want editors can’t please everyone.
By the way “Editor Clark” did explain, in part, why Cagle Cartoons is his preferred source:
EDITOR’S NOTE: Cagle Cartoons is the largest dedicated editorial-cartoon syndicate in the nation. Based in California, it is run by Daryl Cagle, an award-winning editorial cartoonist and entrepreneur who previously worked for The Los Angeles Times. Cagle launched the syndicate in the early 2000s as traditional newspaper cartoon staffs declined, helping independent editorial cartoonists reach news organizations through a centralized subscription service. More than 500 newspapers subscribe to the service.
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