Editorial cartoonist Kevin Necessary has chosen to leave his occasional spot in The Cincinnati Enquirer (Gannett) behind as he concentrates on other venues for his artistic talents.
Kevin informed us of his decision on Twitter and Facebook:
Some personal news: I’m taking a brief hiatus from editorial cartoons to focus on a new illustration project. I want to get this project off on the right foot, and I’d like to put my energy towards that for the next month or so. I’ll be back causing trouble with my cartoons soon.
I’ve decided to end my run doing freelance editorial cartoons for The Enquirer. Due to the realities of the newspaper business, my cartoons were being reduced from once a week to once every other week.
This does not mean an end to editorial cartooning for Kevin. We hope to see him show up on GoComics.
I love editorial cartoons. I will still advocate for the artform and my fellow cartoonists. More than likely I will continue to draw my own cartoons. But the news media landscape has changed, so I’m doing what’s best for me.
Cincinnati Public Radio WVXU reports on Kevin’s decision and history with the paper:
It’s the end of the line for artist Kevin Necessary at the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Again.
Told that his cartoons would appear every two weeks instead of weekly due to a budget cut, the freelance illustrator decided to focus on other projects.
This was the second stint at the Enquirer for Necessary, a 1997 Lakota High School graduate who grew up reading Jim Borgman, the Enquirer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist (1976-2008). The Enquirer didn’t have its own cartoonist until the paper hired Necessary in January 2020 after he had been drawing editorial cartoons for WCPO-TV’s website for three-and-a-half years.
Necessary first worked for the Enquirer as a staff illustrator and designer for the CIN Weekly entertainment tabloid from 2006 until 2009, when it was shut down and staff terminated in an Enquirer budget cut.
Digression…
At least The Cincinnati Enquirer will retain their online comment section unlike some Gannett newspapers.
Poynter reports that due staff shortages most Gannett newspapers no longer have personnel available to moderate their comments section, a necessity these days.
Gannett ended online commenting for most of its news sites Wednesday, citing difficulties in dedicating staff to moderate comment sections.
Some of Gannett’s larger outlets including the Detroit Free Press, The Arizona Republic, and The Cincinnati Enquirer will retain online comments. However, the vast majority of the company’s roughly 200 dailies will no longer allow readers to post comments directly to their websites.
Earlier in the week, several outlets ran versions of a statement announcing the change. They explained that online comment spaces often “quickly devolve” when left unmonitored, leading to off-topic discussions and verbal abuse. In the past, Gannett has asked its journalists to help moderate these spaces, but that will no longer be possible due to “changes in staffing.”