Wiley Miller Suggests Editorial Cartoonists Stop Syndicating Their Work

By: Dave Astor "Non Sequitur" creator Wiley Miller thinks editorial cartoonists should protest job losses by withholding their work from syndication for at least a week or month.

This would be in addition to the "Black Ink Monday" protest planned for Dec. 12, when cartoonists will draw cartoons criticizing the downsizing of their profession.

Miller -- a former editorial cartoonist who periodically puts topical content in his "Non Sequitur"comic -- likes the idea of "Black Ink Monday." But he doesn't think it goes far enough.

"The biggest problem is that staff cartoonists are too easily replaced with cheap syndicated cartoons," said Miller. So staff cartoonists who syndicate, he added, are indirectly "taking the jobs of others."

But if staff cartoonists stopped syndicating temporarily or permanently, would some newspapers run no cartoons at all? "I doubt that would be the case, as the biggest reason cartoons are run on the editorial page to begin with is to have art break up all the copy," replied Miller. "If any newspapers decide to go entirely without, then that's their business. Hardly a reason to continue with something that's costing everyone their jobs."

Miller said he's OK with editorial cartoonists -- such as Pat Oliphant of Universal Press Syndicate and Ann Telnaes of the Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate/New York Times Syndicate -- who syndicate without being based at a specific newspaper.

Another way to possibly save staff jobs is to increase the price of syndicated editorial cartoons, according to Miller. "If we raised the rates -- and I mean a substantial raise in rates, like charging $100 for every reprint instead of just a couple of bucks -- then there would be less incentive for editors to replace their staff cartoonist," he said.

Miller said he realized while working as a San Francisco Examiner editorial cartoonist more than 15 years ago that syndication could cause job losses in his profession. "So I took myself out of syndication," he recalled.

The former Examiner staffer posted his stop-syndication suggestion Tuesday on the chat board of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, which is coordinating the "Black Ink Monday" protest. Miller e-mailed a copy of his post to E&P, after which he was interviewed for this story.

"Non Sequitur" appears in more than 700 newspapers via Universal.