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| The Ontario Press Council is on record as declaring that an editorial cartoonist traditionally uses caricatures, grotesque representations of persons and things, to express satirical opinions on political and social issues. It also believes it is appropriate for newspapers to exercise wide latitude in expressing opinion, no matter how controversial or unpopular, and it recognizes cartoons as expressions of opinion. But it maintains that opinion should be based on accurate information. "Freedom of the press...is not a freedom to make untrue, defamatory statements. The political cartoonist has no special immunity..." -- Mr. Justice Craig Munroe, in the case of Vander Zalm vs. Bierman "An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is a artist who draws cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary." -- Wikipedia "The courts have come to recognize that cartoons fall within a different tradition than the written word and that caricature is a legitimate form of political journalism...Journalists in Canada are overly restrained by libel laws, but cartoonists thrive in an atmosphere of few restrictions. It's healthy to have a greater degree of freedom for cartoonists."-- Peter Desbarats "An editorial cartoon is 90% idea, 10% drawing. I've never seen bad drawing destroy a good idea. On the other hand, I've never seen a good drawing save a bad idea. It follows that you have to start with an idea and then the drawing comes along to make the whole thing work." -- Paul Conrad "A lot of people do not even know what an editorial cartoon is. They mistake it for a comic strip, an advertisement, a photograph, the newspaper's endorsement, or a non-offensive illustration. Unfortunately, too many editors/publishers think a cartoon is all of the above." -- Milt Priggee "The cartoon often crystallizes the events of the day for the reader. Instead of wading through paragraph after paragraph, the cartoonist gives the reader a quick, short hit on the cartoonist's view of a certain issue." -- Warren Clements "Most editorial cartoonists worth their salt are slightly nuts. Always have been. They live or die by the ability to create ridiculous stereotypes, using palettes of political incorrectness, gross exaggeration, grotesque distortion, and cruel caricature." -- Don Sellar, Toronto Star Ombudsman "The job of an editorial cartoonist is to reveal the awkward truth when everybody else would prefer a tactful silence." -- Milt Priggee "An editorial cartoon is sort of a creative bubble. It takes hours to build, and if it's right, it's a perfect bubble...As soon as you try to dumb the thing down for the reader you kill it." -- Matt Davies "I'm sitting in the stands watching the game. I don't speak for the crowd, but I stand up and I cheer or I boo." -- Duncan Macpherson "An editorial cartoonist is always commenting on other people's reporting, so he or she is always vulnerable to the possibility of being taken in by some jackass." -- Ted Rall "An editorial cartoon is always going to piss someone off if it's doing its job properly, so what's wrong with pushing the boundaries a bit?" -- Steve Bell "Drawing an editorial cartoon is somewhat like giving a speech. Your task is to take your subject matter and write a convincing recitation stating your case, and, finally, stand at a podium and impart your thoughts with passion, conviction, and sincerity. Only, in editorial cartooning, once we have conceived an idea stating our point of view, we don’t stand at a podium. We sit at a drawing table. We don’t speak into a microphone — we put pen or brush to paper and draw a picture that evokes our feelings in as effective a way as possible. We use caricature, composition, scale, light and shade the same way a speaker uses inflection, vocal dynamics, and timing." -- Jim Morin "Cartoonists are the guys who come down out of the hills after the battle is over and shoot the wounded." -- Andy Donato paraphrasing Ray Jenkins “If more editors looked at an editorial cartoonist as another columnist — one with a unique point of view who instead of using words uses images — the editorial pages would be much more dynamic and interesting to readers. While they might not read anything else on the editorial page, readers will always look, and react to, a good editorial cartoon,”-- Ann Telnaes "Hey! It’s just lines on paper, folks! But it sure is fun drawing those lines.” -- Robert Crumb "An editorial cartoon is almost always a satiric social commentary. Ultimately it must be emphasized that a political cartoon is a historically constructed image depicted in a very specific context for a specific audience. Also, while most articles try to provide a balanced version of an event, a political cartoon is wholeheartedly and unabashedly one-sided." -- Canadian Parliamentary Review "An editorial cartoonist is supposed to comment on the issues that he or she feels strongly about--that he or she feels are critical in society." -- Mike Ritter "An editorial cartoonist is a commentator with a potent array of tricks up his sleeve, and when readers respond in force, either pro or con, he knows he is doing his job well." -- Chan Lowe "An editorial cartoonist is in the business of stirring things up. We are not about winning converts to our particular point of view. I think of a cartoon as a way of short-circuiting a reaction from readers. Without the paragraphs of written words that most journalists offer, the cartoon should quickly evoke an emotional response. There’s not a lot of intellectualizing going on..." -- Richard Crowson "Editorial cartoonists should be the loose cannons rolling around the deck of a newspaper. What you really want is a cartoonist who makes you nervous." -- Bill Turpin Cartoonists indeed have a really tremendous latitude because of the way people look at cartoons as being expressions of opinion instead of fact." Bert Bruser, Lawyer "An editorial cartoonist should be an original thinker in politics. He should study all kinds of politics, all kinds of governments, all points of view... I really don't know much about anything, and maybe I don't want to. I'm a child. I want some mystery." -- Ed Franklin “I have never seen a great cartoon that sat on a fence. I have never seen a great cartoonist who tried to be loved by everybody on all sides of an issue." -- Corky Trinidad "A cartoonist is a person generally of good moral character and versed in ethics sufficiently to qualify the expression of such principles in his cartoons. The editorial cartoonist is a public servant as much as an elected official, that he is an ethical or moral force, and that by constant repetition more than by individual cartoons, he influences his readers and helps instill in them his own standards and ideology. -- Bruce Russell "a cartoon is not like a truck load of tomatoes...an editorial cartoon should be more timeless, or at least be relevant longer than a few days.-- Jeff MacNelly "Editorial cartoonists are a highly independent breed. They usually generate their own ideas and don't take kindly to direction. Their cartoons may infuriate some readers; they may provoke more anger than humor. But their role is to challenge the status quo, not to reflect it.-- The Toronto Star "Editorial cartoonists are like pit bulls trained to attack at the slightest provocation. I sometimes feel like this hybrid between Edward R. Morrow and the Son of Sam. You need to know who the enemy is to draw conclusions, then draw blood. I'm an equal opportunity offender. If I haven't offended you yet, I will soon." -- Michael Ramirez Freedom of the press and freedom of speech, by definition, include the freedom to offend. But the freedom to offend has to be used carefully if it is to retain real power. Religion A can mock religion B and vice versa forever, but headway is rarely made. From a satirist's perspective, it's almost always more profitable to observe and comment on the actions of the speakers themselves. If you're proposing death and destruction in the name of your specific deity, then we'll have a problem.-- Brian Gable Cartoonists are lauded for our ability to simplify, and we are dismissed for our oversimplifications. But sometimes we deliberately draw more complicated conclusions than we have to. Some readers and editors decry our more cluttered, label-ridden or wordy efforts (it's enough to give us a complex), but the simple fact is, they often work.-- Joel Pett |
| ACEC |
| The Philosophy of Editorial Cartooning |