Dave Astor Interview

Tim O'Shea, writing for Comic Book Resources, interviews Dave Astor.

O’Shea: Why are so many newspapers getting rid of their cartoonists?

Astor: They’re saving a salary. Also, some papers don’t want a strong local cartooning voice because local cartoons can anger local political and business bigwigs (some of whom the publisher might be playing golf with!). And some papers don’t want to deal with reader complaints about a cartoon — even if those calls and e-mails represent only a tiny percentage of their circulation. Unfortunately, the more than 90% of readers who might like or love a cartoon often don’t contact the paper to say that.

This is an informative discussion about the state of newspaper comics (both editorial and strips). For those who may not know, Dave was a Senior Editor at Editor & Publisher magazine from 1983 until this past October 2008, when his position was one of a dozen cut by Neilsen, the company that owns E&P.

A big tip of the hat to Comics Reporter.