Today is cartoonist Stuart Carlson's last day of being on the Journal Sentinel opinion pages. He is among those journalists here who took voluntary buyout offered by the company.He then continues on with a half-hearted tribute to Carlson's work with the company. But McIlheran does not tell the whole truth in those two sentences.
While it is true that Carlson took the buyout, it's not like he had much of a choice. Mr. Carlson wrote to Michael Horne, of MilwaukeeWorld, who first reported the names of people being forced out of the paper. In his letter, Mr. Carlson wrote:
Hi, Michael,
'Fraid it's true. Given the cutbacks planned at the JS I was told they could no longer "justify" having a full-time editorial cartoonist. Although I'm taking the buyout, I'm not going willingly. I'm being forced out.
Another sterling decision by the best and brightest in the paper's management.
I'll continue to be nationally syndicated in papers like the Wash Post.
I'll be looking for some other career around here.
Hope all is well with you.
Yours,
Stuart Carlson
I'm not Catholic anymore, so I don't know what the penance is for the sin of omission, but McIlheran best hie himself to the nearest church and do some confession time.
And the fact that MJS would force out a quality person like Stuart, but keep PaddyMac, shows that it is no longer worth the paper it's printed on.
capper, your last paragraph says it all.
ReplyDeleteI personally feel its important to support the concept of a printed newspaper, even if the news could find an viable digital platform economic model, but the Journal is making it harder and harder for me to stick with it. Tougher still because my livelihood depends on the paper being there.
They insist on giving us all Paddy all the time.
Sadly the very audience that the MJS is trying to cater to by dumping Carlson and keeping Paddy will no matter what regard the paper as a liberal rag. This is sad on many levels
The MJS keeps forgetting that this group does not respond well to facts of any kind, only what plays in their noggins.
Without its own editorial cartoonist, the newspaper is on a par with the West Bend News. I hope they're proud.
ReplyDeletehear, hear.
ReplyDelete