Alert United States

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As reported in the Washington Post, the three Cartooning Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists, Joel Pett of the Lexington Herald-Leader (and a member of Cartooning for Peace), Ohman of the Sacramento Bee and Kevin Siers of the Charlotte Observer, have been dismissed by McClatchy newspapers. The company owns 29 newspapers and operates in 14 states.

McClatchy justifies the decision by a change in readers’ habits: “We made this decision based on changing reader habits and our relentless focus on providing the communities we serve with local news and information they can’t get elsewhere”.

In a statement, the Herb Block Foundation said it was shocked by the continued disappearance of the staff positions of editorial cartoonists at newspapers and the lack of regard for their importance.

In recent years, many cartoonists have been dismissed by their respective newspapers, and other newspapers, such as the international edition of the New York Times, have stopped publishing cartoons. The American Association of Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) told the Washington Post in 2021 that it estimated there were fewer than 30 full-time positions left for editorial cartoonists at newspapers.