Making the Case for More Local Cartooning

By: Dave Astor Editorial cartoons focusing on local and state issues may not win their creators much country-wide recognition. But these cartoons can change things in a way that drawings about national issues usually do not.

That was the consensus of several panelists during an Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention session here.

"Local editorial cartoons have more impact," said panel moderator Rex Babin of The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee and King Features Syndicate's "Best and Wittiest" package. And, he added, local cartoons "do a better job of serving readers" than cartoons that, say, picture Martha Stewart "putting up drapes in jail."

"The thing I like most about editorial cartooning is the squirm factor -- seeing local politicians squirm and be nervous before they crack open the newspaper," added panelist J.D. Crowe of the Mobile (Ala.) Register. "Given the choice of doing something about Britney Spears that gets reprinted in Newsweek or USA Today, or really nailing an arrogant sheriff or school-board member, I'll go after the sheriff or school-board member every time."

Another panelist, Dennis Draughon of The Scranton (Pa.) Times, said he's been told that some of his cartoons have influenced local politicians not to pursue certain negative policies.

A local Los Angeles Daily News cartoon even got L.A. Police Chief William Bratton to visit the paper. Panelist Patrick O'Connor said Bratton had refused several requests to meet with the Daily News editorial board. Then Bratton asked for the original of an O'Connor cartoon (which was critical of Bratton, but the chief wanted it anyway). O'Connor told Bratton he'd give it to him if picked it up in person and visited the editorial board. "He came," recalled O'Connor, who reported "no shortage" of corruption, bureaucracy, and other L.A. problems to do local cartoons about.

So why aren't more local cartoons done? Some papers don't like them because they might annoy advertisers and other constituencies. Also, doing mostly national and international commentary usually makes it easier for a cartoonist to move to a more prestigious newspaper, get reprinted, win a big award like a Pulitzer Prize, and sign with a syndicate -- which requires a creator to produce a certain amount of non-local work each week.

Babin did note: "If you have to fill your syndicate quota, do an extra cartoon that's local." Or, he added, be part of a syndicate package that doesn't require a creator to send in as many cartoons each week as individual syndication does.

"Non Sequitur" creator Wiley Miller of Univeral Press Syndicate recalled taking himself out of syndication when he was a San Francisco Examiner editorial cartoonist in order to focus on local issues. He said several other cartoonists have done the same.

Local cartoonists can still get plenty of prestige and exposure. Draughon said that even if local cartoonists aren't well-known nationally, they're usually well-known in their communities -- and can enter local and state award competitions. Tim Jackson of the Chicago Defender noted that he has sold local cartoons to other newspapers by relabeling them. Bruce Plante of the Chattanooga Times Free Press said he self-syndicates to other Tennessee papers in adition to being distributed by Universal. And then there's Web exposure -- for instance, a number of cartoonists in the Hoosier State are expanding their audience by appearing on IndianaCartoonists.com.

Some AAECers speaking from the audience said creators can successfully do both local and national work, and that many local readers prefer that approach from their paper's staff cartoonist. "Whether you're commenting on President Bush or the mayor of Seattle, people want to see what the local cartoonist says," observed David Horsey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Tribune Media Services (TMS).

"As a cartoonist, our beat is the world," agreed Steve Sack of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and TMS. "Readers care about local AND national issues. Your job is to express your opinion about all kinds of issues."

Speaking of jobs, there aren't a lot in the editorial cartooning field. "If more people did local work, it might help preserve our profession," said Draughon, referring to the way many papers run syndicated cartoons about national and international issues rather than hire their own staff cartoonists.

Babin concluded that, as important as local cartooning is, 2004 is a time full of opportunities to do cartoons about topics such as the presidential election and Iraq. "I can't think of a year when national and international politics were more important," he said. "Maybe this was a bad year to do a local-cartoon panel!"