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Editorial cartooning

Graeme MacKay on The State of The Canary in the Coal Mine (Editorial Cartoonists)

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The mission of editorial cartoons — afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted — has been compromised. In recent years, cartoons, (thankfully not at the Hamilton Spectator) have been diluted to fit corporate partisan agendas, reduced to humour that avoids controversy, or worst of all, eliminated from newspapers altogether.

Editorial cartoonists have not done their best to champion the true purpose of our work.

Partly remembering pre-WWII Hamilton Spectator editorial cartoonist Ivan Glassco and partly describing the current state of the art Graeme MacKay implores newspapers and cartoonists to fight the good fight.

We have overlooked the importance of honouring the legacy of pioneers like Glassco. Although we gather at annual conventions, after the beer swilling, self-promotion often leads us to view our colleagues as competitors rather than allies in the fight against powerful forces.

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Comments 1

  1. Editorial cartooning requires courage. Publishing editorial cartoons requires courage. Most media outlets have devolved into enterprises run by cost accountants, where shareholder value is the only measure of success. With the advent of “social” media, independent thinking has left the room, and factual truth was cast aside decades ago. This is why CNN and similar “news” authorities have been quoting an endless stream of conflicting poll results leading up to the American Election—ad nauseum.

    Since polls rely on the wording of the questions being asked, their emphasis, and questionnaire sequence, various factors come into play that determine the results (the attractiveness of the pollster, the human desire to not appear idiotic in responses, and a subconscious desire to deliver what the pollsters want to hear), polls can become irrelevant as an accurate measure of public reaction. Polls are easily manipulated to deliver the desired result.

    But sheep do not question the path they are driven.

    See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgjEjJkZks

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