Cartooning in real-time
Response to printed and digital cartoons is now pretty much instant as this tweet about a drawing by Peter Brookes of The Times shows.
Peter’s colleague Morten Morland (a PCO member) had a swift response below
The standard response of editorial cartoonists to feedback like this is
Or complete silence, but when the controversy crosses the oceans in seconds to other influential commentators…
This speed of interaction between opinion, response and offence pose, in Bloghorn’s view both a challenge and an opportunity to makers of drawings. What do you think cartoonists should do in the social media era?Answers welcome in the comments.
Updated: 2pm
Further response from the internet
Updated: Wednesday 27th July – The Guardian is reporting a letter from seven UK academics complaining about the publication of this cartoon. Read the story here and please comment below if you would like.
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Barney said on July 21, 2011
Since Peter Brookes has been paid by News International for years, and is not a starving African, he has no right to whinge about the exposure of the illegal actions of his employers as if it is hurting the famine relief effort.
No, he isn’t doing this on orders; he’s just a hypocritical money-grubber who’s worried about the continuation of his highly-paid job, and has grabbed at the first thing he can find to try to get people to forget about the criminal activity of his employers.
Chris said on July 22, 2011
Nice post– Wouldn’t go there mysel though reckon it represents breadth of opinion coerced or not. The strength of argument from all quarters is what democracy is all aboot surely. It’s just a pity there isn’t space for editorial pix about the catastrophe in Africa that have no reference phone hacking at all. Digital media is meant to free us up a bit from news agendas anyway, certainly it is more than ever our own choice to be informed or not either way despite what the headlines push.
Gary Barker said on July 22, 2011
I have to admit I was really torn about what to make of this cartoon when I first saw it. It is a great cartoon and really hits the nail on the head. However it appears in a Murdoch owned publication whose tactic from day one on the phone-hacking scandal has been to try to convince us it’s a storm in a tea-cup. Not only that it has also been the Conservative Party’s tactic too, which just makes a them look like they’re still in cahoots. As one Tory MP said the other day (about the phone-hacking) so dismissively and patronisingly on Newsnight ‘ it’s a little local difficulty, nothing to be overly concerned about’. I am absolutely positive that Peter’s cartoon was created with the sincerest and best intentions and it is hard-hitting and relevant, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used by those with ulterior motives for their own ends.