Tribune Content to Distribute Counterpoint Media Features
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So checking the Tribune Content Agency (TCA) comics page I noticed a “new” feature had appeared. Actually a comic that has been around for 14 years but new to TCA – Reply All by Donna A. Lewis.
Last year when the Washington Post Writers Group (WPWG) dropped comics from the agenda Donna took her daily strip and daily panel to Counterpoint Media.
With Counterpoint Media (CP) having dropped Rudy Park a few months ago due to lack of clients that leaves them with The Weingartens and David Clark’s Barney & Clyde as their sole remaining comic strip.
Is Counterpoint going the WPWG route with their comic strips?
A quick note to Counterpoint Managing Editor Amy Lago got a quick response:
Counterpoint signed a Master Services Agreement with Tribune Content Agency to handle all CP features effective July 1 [emphasis added].
“All CP features.” Say what??
That sent me to the Tribune Content Agency’s political cartoon page where all the CP editoonists are present and accounted for with preliminary links to their forthcoming pages.
Eric Allie, Mike Beckom, Clay Bennett, Lisa Benson, Tim Campbell, Jeff Danziger, and Pedro Molina are mixed in with the regular TCA cartoonists, nearly doubling the TCA’s politcial cartoon offerings.
Cartoonist Nick Anderson, who also happens to be Counterpoint Executive Editor, explains further:
Amy Lago has been the heart and soul of Counterpoint Licensing & Syndication. Quite simply, she is one of the most dedicated and experienced syndicate managers in the business. No one cares more deeply about their syndicate talent than Amy, and she has consistently gone above and beyond to support her creators.
Unfortunately, over the past 18 months, it became increasingly clear that Amy’s availability was becoming more limited due to pressing family commitments. We explored several potential paths forward, including the possibility of transitioning Counterpoint into a nonprofit. Ultimately, we did not have the luxury of time to fully pursue those options.
After careful consideration, we chose to partner with Tribune Content Agency to manage the daily operations of the Counterpoint syndicate. I have worked with TCA for many years and have complete confidence that this is the right fit. I believe this partnership will be a win-win for Counterpoint, for TCA, and most importantly, for our cartoonists and columnists.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Amy for her tireless dedication to the Counterpoint creators. Amy Lago is truly one of a kind, and anyone who has had the privilege of working with her knows exactly what I mean.
A bit more from Nick Anderson.
Nick confirms that Counterpoint will continue as a legal entity, and that includes the Counterpoint Newsletter:
I will continue to oversee and edit the Counterpoint newsletter, which I reformatted on May 1 into a left-leaning publication featuring syndicated cartoons. For the past several years, profits from the syndicate have helped subsidize the newsletter. As syndicate revenues are now being handled separately, it became clear that sustaining the newsletter required a significant change to the business model.
That leaves two questions:
Will GoComics start running the Reply All strip and Reply All Lite panel once more? They already run all the Counterpoint editorial cartoonists and Barney & Clyde.
And why isn’t Barney & Clyde on the TCA page? Are The Weingartens and Clark shopping their strip to Andrews McMeel or King Features in hopes of a better deal? Or just the last in the queue to be added?
June 25 update:
Barney & Clyde now appears on the Tribune comic strip page completing the Counterpoint reassignments.
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