Fear and loathing on the editorial cartooning trail
What happened to me is not uncommon
This is a Jack Ohman cartoon. He is currently a contributing opinion columnist and cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Before he went to the San Francisco Chronicle he worked for the Sacramento Bee and in 2016, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the highest achievement in editorial cartooning in the USA, for his work there.
Ohman just stepped down as president of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists. He was an amazing President at a time of great chaos in our profession. He was simply the right person at the right time.
This is a cartoon by Joel Pett, a longtime cartoonist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Pett was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Editorial Cartooning in 1989 and 1998, ultimately winning the prestigious award in 2000.
His work has been featured in hundreds of newspapers and magazines across the country, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe. He is also a weekly contributor to USA Today, writes a regular cartoon feature for the Los Angeles Times, and creates a monthly cartoon for the educational journal Phi Delta Kappan.
Beyond his witty illustrations, Joel Pett is known for his sharp humor in person, making him as funny in real life as he is in print.
This is a cartoon by Kevin Siers, who had been with the Charlotte Observer since 1987. Siers received the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, recognized for his "thought-provoking cartoons, drawn with sharp wit and a bold artistic style."
In 2023, Siers was honored as Charlottean of the Year, celebrating his lasting impact on both his community and the world of editorial cartooning.
……….
These remarkable editorial cartoonists share several things in common.
Obviously each of them won a Pulitzer Prize.
Each of them stood as strong moderate voices within their communities
But each also worked for newspapers owned by McClatchy. Originally based in Sacramento, California, McClatchy became a subsidiary of Chatham Asset Management following its bankruptcy in 2020.
Chatham Asset Management is an American hedge fund, noted for its close ties to the Republican Party, according to a 2018 Fortune article.
Ohman, Pett, and Siers share something else in common.
They were all let go from their newspapers in exactly the same way I was. There is no difference in how the four of us were fired.
But how could cartoonists in two different countries and two different comp-anies share exatly the same fate?
Chatham Asset Management, this conservative hedge fund, which has strong ties to the Republican Party, not only holds controlling stakes in McClatchy, a major American publishing company, but it also owns two-thirds of Postmedia—the company that now owns the Halifax Chronicle Herald and most newspapers in Canada.
The company that just let me go.
News items:
Three Pulitzer-winning cartoonists let go in one shocking day
Saltwire acquired by company known to slash and burn.
Michael de Adder Let Go by Postmedia – Update
Michael de Adder, renowned cartoonist, let go by Postmedia-owned N.S. newspaper
Links:
I knew it was going to happen to deAdder. Hedge funds like Chatham Asset Management contribute to this and cause a chilling effect on editorial freedom. Their influence spreads across the U.S. and Canada, impacting the media landscape and silencing moderate voices like Ohman, Pett, Siers, and deAdder. The way they were all let go shows how coordinated and pervasive this trend has become.
And looking at that bigger picture, the right wing oligarchy is continuing to grow. Perhaps we need a vaccine. Oh wait, we can vote and choose to spend our elusive discretionary dollar in other places.