Probably the biggest loss will be the paper's elimination of its editorial cartoonist. Reportedly the paper has told prize-winning cartoonist Stuart Carlson that it is dropping the position. When The Journal and Sentinel merged, the new paper had two editorial cartoonists since each paper had a very talented cartoonist who had won national acclaim as among the best in the nation. A few years ago, it moved Gary Markstein out of editorial cartoon (shortly after he won national honors). Fortunately you can still see Markstein cartoons regularly in place like Newsweek magazine since he's nationally syndicated as well as drawing a nationally-syndicated comic strip. I'm hopeful that Stuart will also continue to do editorial cartoons.
I realize the newspaper needs to conserve money, but at a time when newspapers keep talking "local, local, local," as well as attempting to offer alternatives to online media, I have to wonder why they are cutting such an important position. It doesn't bode well for holding readers or advertisers -- especially if some of the highly-visible, popular writers and columnists leave.
No comments:
Post a Comment