WSJ’s Pepper…and Salt off editorial page

For 58 years the Wall Street Journal has featured a gag cartoon under the title of Pepper…and Salt – most of the time running on the editorial page. As of April 22, the cartoon was moved to the Arts and Leisure page and reduced in size. The move might actually be a good thing. The paper has announced that it will restructure its editorial pages, there is hope that an editorial cartoonist’s work might be used.

“Murdoch’s papers are known for their great editorial cartooning,” said Rex Babin, the editorial cartoonist for The Sacramento Bee. Mr. Babin noted that Pepper’s targets – the foibles of offices and other institutional oddities of American life – were not distinctly editorial in nature, and The Journal page might benefit from an actual conservative editorial cartoonist, as opposed to a feature cartoon whose spiritual sibling is The New Yorker.

“The Wall Street Journal editorial page is a showcase for conservative opinion,” said Ted Rall, an editorial cartoonist for Universal Press Syndicate, who reeled off a list of conservative cartoonists, like Mike Ramirez (formerly with The Los Angeles Times and now with Investor’s Business Daily) and the semi-retired Chuck Asay, who could brighten The Journal’s page. “You could see possibly Murdoch having some fun with it in some ways.

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