By IPS Correspondents
TAMPA, Florida, Sep 30 2008 (IPS)

In spite of budget cutbacks, the challenge of learning to do their work with ever-changing computer software and other pressures, U.S. newspaper editorial cartoonists are thriving in the closing months of the 2008 presidential election.

Herb Block's cartoons in the Washington Post helped turn public sentiment against the now-reviled Sen. Joe McCarthy. Credit: Washington Post

Newspaper editorial cartoonists, however, were not necessarily among them, having found endless potential in the colourful image.

“I did a cartoon this past week with Palin as a pig with lipstick, representing the millions of dollars of pork-barrel spending that she brought to Alaska while governor and also mayor of a thinly-populated town. That got the newspaper lots of responses,” said R.J. Matson, editorial cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

As the nation’s attention turned to the proposed 700-million-dollar bailout for Wall Street, Obama regained a widening lead over his opponent, Senator John McCain, in a number of national polls.

While in the world of newspaper cartoonists, all’s fair in love, war and presidential elections, many say they are conscious of avoiding stereotypes.

“I’m on a daily deadline, so I’m restricted to what’s in the daily news. So, regarding what the hot story will be, I’m always one day behind,” confessed Signe Wilkinson, a cartoonist for the Philadelphia Daily News.

“The one thing to remember is that we’re cartoonists and there’s really nothing like what we do on TV or even the Internet,” she said. Her cartoons are distributed via the Washington Post Writer’s Group.

Despite these material-rich days for U.S. newspaper cartoonists, they are also tough economic times for the media. When a newspaper in the U.S. gets into fiscal trouble, one of the first employees in the newsroom to be fired is the cartoonist. At the Cincinnati Enquirer, long-time cartoonist Jim Borgman accepted a buy-out offer rather than being terminated from his job.

The inventiveness of primarily Internet-based cartoonists, plus the simple fact that to produce a newspaper cartoon can take hours or days and thus lose its freshness by the time it is published, are also challenges.

Historically, U.S. newspaper editorial cartoonists have tended to be liberal in their viewpoints. This is pretty much still the case, said Wilkinson, “but there’s some very good conservative cartoonists out there like Glenn McCoy [of the Belleville (Illinois) Democrat] and, especially, Michael Ramirez [formerly of the Los Angeles Times but now with Financial Times].”

IPS asked the three cartoonists if they felt their work was a form of editorial journalism, and got three different answers.

“My job is not to change people’s minds; it’s to be witty and make people come back and see what I’m going to do tomorrow,” said Matson.

“An editorial cartoonist certainly isn’t non-partisan. We have to be partisan. We’re paid to have opinions. So, yes, it’s a drawn editorial,” offered Wilkinson.

“I consider what I do political commentary, just like [conservative columnist] George Will or [liberal columnist] Maureen Dowd. All of us are doing the same thing but with different talents and tools,” said Kelley.

Regarding Obama, U.S. newspaper editorial cartoonists must be aware of the subject of race. With McCain, they must be careful that their work is not perceived to be ridiculing the elderly or disabled.

“Obviously I want to be as accurate as possible,” Kelley said. “I did a cartoon a few months ago where I had McCain in a boxing ring, along with Obama and [Senator] Hillary Clinton. He [McCain] was holding a boxing round card over his head with both hands, just like the beautiful boxing card girls do. But then somebody here pointed out to me that McCain can’t physically raise both of his arms over his head. So I had to go back and fix the cartoon to where he was holding the card with one hand.”

Editorial cartoonists have occasionally helped to make political history. In the 19th century, Thomas Nast of The New York Times drew a series of cartoons portraying William “Boss” Tweed, the ethically-challenged New York politician, as a corrupt buffoon.

The cartoons, which appeared primarily in the Times but also other publications, helped get New York readers angry enough to successfully demand the removal of Tweed from his political post.

Eighty years later, during the 1950s, Herb Block became the most famous U.S. newspaper editorial cartoonist to criticise the fear-mongering anti-communist campaign of U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy by way of his cartoons in the Washington Post.

In fact, for a series of such cartoons that were published in 1954, “Herblock” was awarded that year’s Pulitzer Prize. The term “McCarthyism”, which means to slander or libel a person using half-truths and/or complete lies, was coined by “Herblock”.

Which brings us back to the 2008 U.S. election.

“In 2000, McCain was a favourite candidate, but this (past) week I’ve really been disappointed with his smear tactics,” said Matson.

“You know it’s one thing to badmouth your opponent but” – here he began to chuckle harder – “you just can’t make up these whopping lies as McCain has done [about Obama] which have absolutely no truth to them at all. People around here [in Missouri] are starting to laugh [at McCain].”

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