Editorial cartoons are about concept. The illustration is merely a vehicle to convey a point of view. We're here to protect and inform the public, to attack and repel those who do not agree with our long-term shared interest.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
There is too much illustrating of the news these days. I look at many editorial cartoons and I don't know what the cartoonists are saying or how they feel about a certain issue.
With a standard editorial cartoon, you're taking tons of information and synthesizing it down to a single bite - a single moment in time. With animated editorial cartoons, it's more storytelling.
Editorial cartoons should be smart and substantive, provocative and informative. They should stir passions and deep emotions. Editorial cartoons should be the catalyst for thought, and frankly speaking, if you can make politicians think, that is an accomplishment itself.
People really love editorial cartoons, and I think publishers understand that.
Cartoons are not real drawings, because they are drawings intended to be read.
I see the cartoonist as contributing to the content, being critical, because we do poke holes in some of the dialogue and find new ways of seeing things.
I used to think of the cartoons as a magazine within a magazine. First you go through and read all the cartoons, and then you go back and read the articles.
I have no idea what readership is of written editorials, but it doesn't come anywhere close to the readership of editorial cartoons.
Editorial pages all say, 'Well, the other guy has a point, too. It remains to be seen how this will come out. We certainly hope it comes out fine; blah, blah.' Cartoonists don't go that way. Our job is to stick out our tongues, to show a big raspberry to whatever pompous jerk happens to be mouthing off.
Drawings don't have a point. Cartoons, you want to have an opinion; you want them to express a viewpoint.