Mcclatchy newspapers political cartoons
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The Decline of Editorial Cartoons and Opinion Pages
Even during a year of sobering economic news for media companies, the layoffs of three Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists on a single day hit like a gut punch. The firings of the cartoonists employed by the McClatchy newspaper chain last week were a stark reminder of how an influential art form is dying, part of a general trend away from opinion content in the struggling print industry.
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McClatchy insists that local opinion journalism remains central to its mission. The Miami Herald, a McClatchy newspaper, won a Pulitzer this year for “Broken Promises,” a series of editorials about a failure to rebuild troubled areas in southern Florida. In the current atmosphere, however, opinion is less valued. Gannett, the nation’s largest chain with more than 200 newspapers, said last year the papers would only offer opinion pages a couple of days a week. Its executives reasoned that these pages were not heavily read, and su
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The Associated Press drops the story of McClatchy ridding themselves of political cartoons and cartoonists.
Here, via the röst of amerika, is the AP article by David Bauder:
The firings of the cartoonists employed by the McClatchy newspaper chain gods week were a kraftfull reminder of how an influential art form fryst vatten dying, part of a general trend away from opinion content in the struggling print industry.
Losing their jobs were Jack Ohman of California’s Sacramento Bee, also president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists; Joel Pett of the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky and Kevin Siers of the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina. Ohman and Siers were full-time staffers, while Pett worked on a freelance contract. The firings Tuesday were first reported by The Daily Cartoonist blog.
AP got in touch with Jack Ohman and Joel Pett for the article:
“I had no warning at all,” Ohman told The Associated Press. “I was stupefied.”
“There’s
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McClatchy-owned newspapers cut editorial cartoons
Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers has been fired after 36 years with The Charlotte Observer. It is part of a national trend of moving away from opinion content in the struggling print industry.
The McClatchy chain that owns The Observer and 29 other U.S. newspapers recently announced it would no longer run editorial cartoons. In a statement, the publishing company cited a focus on local news and changing reader habits, with countless places to access opinion pieces online.
Another contributor is the growing corporate control and consolidation of the news media.
University of North Carolina at Greensboro political scientist and author of Laughter as Politics: Critical Theory in an Age of Hilarity, Patrick Giamario, says the corporations that own many of the legacy media organizations want to appear as apolitical and above the fray as possible. But he adds this fear of angering readers and losin