Cartoonists Convene In Canada

By: Dave Astor The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) is meeting in Canada this week, so it's appropriate that globalization will be a major topic.

One scheduled speaker is consumer advocate and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader -- who, according to AAEC President David Horsey, was "pretty receptive to coming" to face a roomful of editorial cartoonists. Also discussing globalization will be former Canadian Finance Minister Mike Wilson and former New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent. Moderating will be Los Angeles Times Pacific Rim business correspondent Evelyn Iritani.

Other sessions at the June 27-30 meeting -- hosted by The Toronto Sun's Andy Donato -- will cover Canadian cartooning, navigating the latter part of one's career, and more. Also, "Hardball" columnist-TV host Chris Matthews of Newspaper Enterprise Association and MSNBC will speak.

"We've always prided ourselves on having content-packed conventions," said Horsey, who's with the Seattle Post- Intelligencer and Tribune Media Services.

A Focus On New Funding

There also may be an announcement at the Toronto meeting about a new source of funding for the AAEC. "A number of years ago, we decided we shouldn't take money from organizations not tied to the news business," Horsey recalled. "But limiting ourselves to syndicates and host newspapers isn't enough."

And there will probably be hallway talk about cartoonists continuing to get fired because of budget cuts, controversial drawings, or personality conflicts with their bosses. The latest casualty several weeks ago was Steve Kelley at The San Diego Union-Tribune.

"Cartoonists always seem to lose those battles," noted Horsey. He said creators may not always be totally blameless in personality- conflict situations, but wishes more editors and publishers realized the importance of cartoonists -- especially "in an era when newspapers are struggling to hold onto readers.

"Editorial cartooning is a draw," continued Horsey. "It's something unique to newspapers. ... Controversy raised by cartoons is actually good. Newspaper editorial pages are all about debate. If you get readers sending in letters, it's not a bad thing. You want them engaged."

Horsey, 49, who joined the Post-Intelligencer in 1979 and won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1999, is serving a one-year term as president of the AAEC (http://www.detnews.com/AAEC).

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ISYNDICATE'S ASSETS BOUGHT
YellowBrix Acquires Ailing Company

YellowBrix has agreed to buy the assets of iSyndicate, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Terms were not disclosed.

San Francisco-based iSyndicate and Alexandria, Va.-based YellowBrix provide Web content and infrastructure services. If the deal is approved by federal bankruptcy court, the combined companies will have more than 400 customers and 300,000 affiliates.

ISyndicate has only 40 employees left in the United States after firing 157 San Francisco workers this spring, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

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BREEN MOVING TO S.D. PAPER
Pulitzer Winner Will Replace Kelley

Asbury Park (N.J.) Press editorial cartoonist Steve Breen will join The San Diego Union-Tribune July 9.
The 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner is a Southern California native syndicated by San Diego-based Copley News Service.

Breen, 31, will succeed longtime Union-Tribune staffer Steve Kelley, who was fired a month ago over a cartoon showing teens wearing pants hitched revealingly low.

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TWO CARTOONISTS MARRY
It's Described As a JOA Of Sorts

Two editorial cartoonists got hitched last month at a ceremony performed by a third editorial cartoonist!
The marriage of Clay Bennett of The Christian Science Monitor and United Feature Syndicate and Cindy Procious of The Huntsville (Ala.) Times was described as a "JOA" by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' (AAEC) Notebook publication. Officiating at the "joint operating agreement" was Dennis Draughon of The Scranton (Pa.) Times.

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'COAST' COASTS TO CREATORS
Comic Is By Canadian Cartoonist

Creators Syndicate is distributing "The Other Coast" by Canadian editorial cartoonist Adrian Raeside, who works for the Times Colonist in Victoria, British Columbia.
The comic started as a Sunday feature in 1990, went daily in 1999, and now has clients such as the Chicago Tribune and Canada's National Post. It finished first in a recent poll asking readers which comics they'd like added to the Ogden, Utah, Standard-Examiner.

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KING FEATURES NAMES M.E.
Mott Comes From McGraw-Hill

Glenn Mott has been named managing editor of King Features Syndicate. The former McGraw-Hill acquiring editor has also worked as a financial reporter and film/video editor and producer.

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SPORTS CARTOONIST IN ...
... The Arena Of Syndication

Frank Galasso is syndicating his sports cartoons, which run in The Providence (R.I.) Journal and about 40 other papers.
The creator (Frankgalasso@aol.com) also does editorial cartoons, business cartoons, caricatures, and illustrations.

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SOLO SOJOURNING IS SUBJECT
'Travel Alone' Column Syndicated

A column called "Travel Alone & Love It" is being self-syndicated by flight attendant/author Sharon Wingler (jetwriter7@aol.com).
The feature -- aimed at the 36% of travelers who are single, divorced, or widowed -- runs in papers such as the Boston Herald and The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch.

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DRIVEN TO DO AUTO REVIEWS
New From 'Regina Roams' Writer

Regina Lynch-Hudson (http://www.thewritepublic ist.com) is syndicating test-drive reviews of autos.
She also does the 1998-launched "Regina Roams" column, which spotlights travel destinations owned by or of interest to people of color.