A dying artform?

Liz França, Brazil, first prize winner 2012 Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom (CCWPF).

 
Vancouver-based writer and cartoonist Geoff Olsen examines the present state of editorial cartooning in a well-written piece in the August issue of Common Ground.

Great article, well worth reading not only by cartoonists but by anyone concerned with the effects of media concentration on freedom of speech. I met and chatted with Geoff at the Montreal convention of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists last month. Editorial cartooning's uncertain future was the focus of many a dinner table and late night hospitality suite conversation as cartoonists try to find their way through a shifting media and economic landscape.

Most telling quote: "Although editors vary in temperament, editorial cartooning seems to be endured rather than encouraged by management. Perhaps one problem is that the political sentiments of the average Canadian caricaturist lie somewhere between Stéphane Dion and Jane Fonda, while the editorial position of many Canadian newspapers ranges somewhere between Barbara Amiel and Genghis Khan."