Matt Wuerker fires back: Memes don’t deserve Pulitzers
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Last week I linked to an article on Slate.com by Farhad Manjoo who argued that the Pulitzer Prize should be opened up to other graphical commentary – such as memes, infographics, etc. mostly because he felt single panel editorial cartoons are, “an increasingly timeworn form. Even the best ones traffic in blunt, one-dimensional jokes, rarely exhibiting nuance, irony, or subtext.”
He singled out Matt Wuerker’s work:
Wuerker is neither subversive nor an extremist. He seems to target Republicans more often than he does Democrats, but he mainly favors a clichéd, pox-on-both-your-houses approach. This excruciatingly punny panel, published during last summer?s budget crisis, illustrates Wuerker?s overriding argument: Washington is broken! (Who knew?)
Matt fires back with a post (and colorful cartoons) on the Columbia Journalism Review entitled, “A picture is worth a thousand memes”
Don?t get me wrong. I like infographics, am a big fan of pie charts and graphs, and really love seeing the memes and macros spreading out there online. But a pie chart or other infographic has never provoked a riot or resulted in a fatwa on its author. Just this year, the Syrian regime went after Ali Ferzat, a Syrian cartoonist, whose drawings mocked President Bashar al-Assad. They were so infuriated by his cartoons they broke his hands trying to shut him up. Cartoons have a special way of getting under the skin.
Great response from Matt.
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