Clay Bennett, president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, has sent a letter to the CEO of Tribune Co. Dennis FitzSimons regarding their letting Michael Ramirez go and not planning to hire another cartoonist.
Bennett, an editorial cartoonist with The Christian Science Monitor, added: “There are few journalists in a newsroom who can define the tone and identity of a publication like an editorial cartoonist does. By discarding those who make a newspaper unique, you rob it of its character. By robbing a newspaper of its character, you steal its spirit.”
FitzSimmons has yet to repsond to the letter.