The St. Petersburg Times in Florida is looking to add a full-time editorial cartoonist to its staff, according to the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. The Times has been without a staff cartoonist since Don Addis retired in 2004.
According to Editor & Publisher, Dean Miller, executive editor of The Post Register in Idaho Falls, sent a letter to King Features Syndicate saying the existence of King’s DailyINK online service may mean King “places little value on syndication fees.” And he wondered if the syndicate should start paying newspapers to run comics.
The Akron Beacon Journal has announced that it will cut 25% of its staff – approximately 40 people to “align costs with revenues.” Chip Bok, their editorial cartoonist, says he’s not one of them, but two other artists will be losing their jobs. One such artist is Rick Steinhauser who has expressed interest in inking cartoons. If you’re aware of any opportunities contact Chip through his blog.
In a development to watch to see if it affects the number of comics run in a newspaper, Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the U.S. will be experimenting with a new paper size that is somewhere between tabloid and broadsheet according to this story in the BBC. The first paper to make the leap will be the Indiana journal and Courier.
According to the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, 75% of those surveyed between the ages of 18 and 24 who said they read the a newspaper when they were younger (13-to-17) now read their local paper at least once a week.Eighty-one percent of those surveyed said they read the local Sunday paper in the past four weeks and 66% said they read it last Sunday.MORI Research conducted the study on behalf of the NAA Foundation…. The study also noted that roughly 800 papers carry some sort of syndicated youth content for all ages.The study shows that when teens pick up the paper they are more attracted to stories written by their peers (but not by much).
Hector Cant� and Carlos Castellanos, creators of the comic strip, “Baldo,” are encouraging Latinos to become activists in their communities. During the week of July 3, 2006, the strip, which is syndicated by Universal Press, will address issues and challenges that face Latinos in the United States. The week of strips also points out the […]
“Stone Soup,” drawn by Eugene’s own Jan Eliot, once again reigns supreme in The Register-Guard of Eugene, Oregon. It was re-elected their favorite strip after also finishing No. 1 in the newspaper’s previous poll in 2000. It was closely followed by “Zits” and “For Better or for Worse.”
Editorial cartoonist Patrick O’Connor won first-place at the Los Angeles Press Club’s 48th Southern California Journalism Awards banquet Saturday night.O’Connor was honored for his cartoon titled “Undocumented Workers.”
It’s been a while since I last posted a story about some of the newspaper industry happenings, but I thought this story about McClatchy selling the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer to a local Philadelphia group was important for one reason: The new owners do not intend to lay off any staff at either paper. That means editorial cartoonists Signe Wilkinson and Tony Auth’s jobs are safe.
AOL News has an article regarding the current decline in newspaper circulations across the country. In the last six months (ending in March) the industry has seen a 2.6% drop in subscribers as more and more people turn to the internet for news and information.
After the LA Times ran a story quoting comic strip heavy weights Berkeley Breathed, Wiley Miller questioning the future of the American Comics page, the discussion has been spreadign to other publications.Today on CNN.com, they have a story called “Who reads the comics anymore?”… On the one hand they want younger readers which would require hip-per, edgier features like “Pearls Before Swine” and “Get Fuzzy,” but such features are lost on the older generation that is the bread and butter of the newspaper subscriptions.From Tom Daning, managing editor for United Media:”They’re looking for something new and edgy, but many of their readers are over 35,” he says.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/OPINION03/604300301/1271Also leaving the Web team is Larry Wright , an extraordinarily talented cartoonist and our long-suffering softball coach. Larry learned the hard way that journalists write because they can’t play.
There is a great article over at the LA Times about an upcoming “Sunday at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books” symposium that will examine the future of comics in the newspaper…. Other cartoonists on the panel include Cathy Guisewite (“Cathy”), Jerry Scott (“Baby Blues” and “Zits”) and Lalo Alcaraz (“La Cucaracha”).Berkeley:”I don’t think you’ll ever see another ‘Calvin & Hobbes,’ ‘Bloom County’ or ‘Doonesbury’ again,” says Breathed, 48, who received the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1987.
Another newspaper has announced that it will be reducing its newsroom staff. The Denver Post is home to editorial cartoonist Mike Keefe. The Post will offer early retirement and voluntary separation packages as an incentive. They’re looking to reduce 25 of their 300 staff members.
Recently I posted a story how the Sacramento Bee was cutting their Sunday funnies from 8 pages to 6. This story (which is a week old), talks about the community reaction:In a nutshell: only 250 responded. 250. That’s it.