Meanwhile, Elsewhere in the Commonwealth…
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The Courier Mail has announced the newspaper will no [longer] print comic strips, much to the dismay of the industry.
In a small article in the paper today, the Courier Mail said the decision was based on “extensive research into changing readership habits”.
Australian Cartoonists Association president Cathy Wilcox said she hoped dismayed readers spoke up.
“I am hoping there might be a bit of blowback, we have been trying to make a little bit of noise about this we first heard about it, from some of the members of the cartoonists association.”
Newspapers that are part of News Corp Australia surpassed Lee Enterprises in two ways in cutting comic strips from their daily journals. First they did it starting Monday September 12 instead of Tuesday September 13. Second they cut ALL the comic strips.
4BC News Radio carries the story, and former News Corp newspaper editor Neil Breen interviews ACA president cartoonist Cathy Wilcox. Neil tells of when he cut Prince Valiant and was forced, by reader demand, to bring it back the very next week.
The Phantom © King Features Syndicate
At Australia Broadcasting Corporation is the headline
It’s all over for The Phantom, Garfield and Ginger Meggs.
Those comic strip do survive though no longer in Australia.
The ‘funny pages’ are among the most beloved sections of any daily newspaper. It’s with great sadness that News Corp has cease to publish the comic strips of cultural icons like Hagar, Fred Basset, The Phantom and Garfield.
Jason Chatfield, cartoonist for Ginger Meggs and president of the National Cartoonists’ Society, spoke to Sammy J on ABC Radio Melbourne Breakfast.
Jason, in the interview with ABC Radio, tells of the 15 year effort to get News Corp Australia to put comic strips on their websites without success.
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