The Endangered Right to Cartoon in the US
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Hank Kennedy at Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) writes of the pressure being seen by U.S. political cartoonists to suppress cartoons critical of the Trump Administration in an article looking at the United States section of Under Pressure: US’s Erosion of the Right to Cartoon Is No Laughing Matter.
Pointing out examples from Ann Telnaes departure from The Washington Post to Bob Whitmore‘s firing from Creative Loafing to a Felipe Galindo cartoon being removed from The Smithsonian to Adam Zyglis receiving death threats to the recent directive to eliminate syndicated comics from Stars and Stripes – some of which (Doonesbury, Pearls Before Swine, Over the Hedge, Prickly City) regularly challenged Trump and his Administration policies either directly or indirectly.
Perhaps Donald Trump’s Pentagon saw itself as acting in the Patton tradition when it eliminated comics from Stars and Stripes. As FAIR (3/20/26) previously documented, Pete Hegseth has taken steps to crack down on the independence of the Pentagon’s own newspaper. Among the new guidelines to promote “good order and discipline” is a ban on syndicated material, including comics (Stars and Stripes, 3/13/26). US servicemembers have now been saved from the woke, subversive influences of Doonesbury, Pearls Before Swine and, perhaps worst of all, Beetle Bailey.
When the survey turns to the United States, things remain ominous. Kak, the president of Cartoonists for Peace whose work appears in L’Opinion, found the “same tactics” that appear in authoritarian regimes, or those headed in a dictatorial direction, “are being used” in the US. He continued that “the ‘Land of the Free’ is now flashing bright red on our threat map,” putting the US in the same crowd as Iran, India, Turkey and Russia.
It’s quite a shift from the 2023 report Cartoonists on the Line, which had no section dedicated to the United States. Much has changed for the worse in three years.
The article also notes the disappearing venues for political cartoonists:
The venues for cartoonists are also shrinking and sometimes disappearing. Since 2005, around 3,500 newspapers have shut down (Poynter, 10/20/25). Publications like the Atlantic Journal-Constitution, the Newark Star-Ledger and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are either ending their print editions or shutting down entirely. Cartoonist Walt Handelman (Editor & Publisher, 2/18/26), recently retired from the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Advocate, said he was “optimistic about satire…. The real question is, how do you make a professional living doing it.”
As the reports asks, “Why hire a dedicated cartoonist when syndicated material can be purchased for a fraction of the price?”
We at TDC proudly observe a couple name checks, notably:
Unfortunately, Under Pressure has received little coverage in the United States, excepting the Daily Cartoonist (3/4/26). This contrasts with the coverage in New African Magazine (3/2/26), which gave the incidents the report highlights on that continent wider publicity.
The lack of attention media outlets gave to Under Pressure comes at a dangerous time for press freedom. The Inter American Press Association, a hemispheric media watchdog, recently classified the United States as a nation with “‘restrictions’ on freedom of speech” and of the press (AP, 3/10/26). By not giving reports like Under Pressure attention, media outlets are placing their heads in the sand.
feature image from It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis audiobook, artist unknown
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