THE NEW YORK TIMES WILL END ALL POLITICAL CARTOONS I just learned, weeks after they published a syndicated Netanyahu cartoon that caused a scandal. For me, this is the end of an adventure that began 20 years ago. But the stakes are much higher.
In 20-plus years of delivering a twice-weekly cartoon for the International Herald Tribune first, and then The New York Times, after receiving three OPC awards in that category, I thought the case for political cartoons had been made (in a newspaper that was notoriously reluctant to the form in past history.) But something happened. In April 2019, a Netanyahu caricature from syndication reprinted in the international editions triggered widespread outrage, a Times apology and the termination of syndicated cartoons. Weeks later, my employers tell me they’re ending political cartoons altogether by July. I’m putting down my pen, with a sigh: that’s a lot of years of work undone by a single cartoon – not even mine – that should never have run in the best newspaper of the world.
Patrick continues at his homepage.
Patrick mentions the Pultizer Prize for Editorial Cartooning the New York Times got last year.
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists have a suggestion:
Editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes, among many others, has cancelled her subscription.
Even a Pulitzer Prize winner can’t get a response from the New York Times,
only a form letter from subscription.
UPDATE to include New York Times statement:
The Hill reports that
Bennet issued the statement just hours after after cartoonist Patrick Chappatte revealed the Times’s plans in a blog post.
After deciding in April to stop using syndicated political cartoons, The International New York Times is cutting ties with two contract cartoonists.
I also miss the Al Hirschfield NYT drawings – mostly for Broadway musical productions.